Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 204 - Walt Disney: How a Media Empire Was Built

Episode Date: August 10, 2020

Walt Disney! How much do you know about the mind and the man that built one of the ten biggest media empires in the world? How did the production company behind some animated short films in the 1920s morph and evolve into the media behemoth Disney is today? Did Walt come from money? Did he luck into a few amazing opportunities? When did Disneyland open? Was it successful early on? Are a variety of conspiracies about it true? Had a lot of fun working on this Suck - hope it shows when you hear it! Hail Nimrod and Hail Walt Disney. Donating $6600 to the YWCA's Idaho County Fund! My childhood friend and former classmate Kristy Dewitt-Beckstead has been a YWCA advocate for the past nine years. She helps victims of domestic violence, who are almost always women who have been isolated in the extremely rural area I grew up, where they feel trapped by abusive partners. To donate yourself to this important cause, go to ywcaidaho.org and earmark your donation to “General Fund Idaho County” by typing that in the comments section of the online donation form. Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lmLTOrZ6xbg Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ 2020 online gathering tix on sale now! Try out Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 9000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits

Walt Disney, a man so legendary, his name probably makes you think of a giant media empire and massive iconic theme parks before you think of an actual human being. Walt Disney, the man, is a classic American success story if there ever was one. But he wasn't born destined to become a successful animator, far from it. He didn't show up with the silver spoon in his mouth. His mom was a homemaker and his dad worked a variety of jobs that always kept the Disney's office street, but certainly never got to family ahead. Walt got his first job at 11 to help his family pay the bills. At the age of just 15, he went overseas to help out his country's World War I efforts, working as a medic in France, and he only worked as a medic because the army wouldn't let him enlist as a soldier due to his young age.

Later in life, he'd say that he wished boys were able to enlist at an even younger age in 15 in order to make men more self-reliant. Dude may have been in the business of G-rated children's cartoons, but he sure as shit wasn't soft. The story of the founder of the House of Mouse is fascinating and inspiring. He overcame numerous obstacles to build his empire, from having his first cartoon essentially stolen by his distributor to dealing with a massive strike in the 40s that almost bankrupted him,

Walt was no stranger to adversity. He was a brilliant innovator, someone with true entrepreneurial spirit and a man with no ounce of quit in him. He literally worked himself into a nervous breakdown at one point. And then after a doctor mandated vacation, he got his cartoon and ass right back to work. There was so much you wanted to do. There were movies to make theme parks to build, a utopian community to design, dude set his sights high. Nothing was ever good enough. Was his utopian vision ever realized? Just how big has his empire become?

How do Walt go from a small time midwestern animator to one of the most famous media tycoons of all time? Is there a secret hidden illuminati, illuminati, meeting place inside Disneyland? We're going to find out all this and more today on TimeSuck. This is Michael McDonald and you're listening to TimeSuck. You're listening to TimeSuck. To TimeSuck. Happy Monday, meet Sacks, hail Nimrod, hail Luciferina, where are Sassy Little Cinderella

cosplay costume today, if you don't mind. Praise both jangles and I'm surprised Triple M hasn't scored a Disney movie or two yet. Welcome to the Culls of the Curious, I'm Dan Cummins, Suck Nasty, the Suck Master, Snow Whites 8th dwarf, and you are listening to Time Suck. Recording right here in the Suck dungeon in CDA August has been a pretty beautiful here in Northern Idaho. You got the script keeper, Reverend Dr. Joe Paisley in the studio, along with art warlock Logan Keith and Kate Keith, the bad magic Baroness. So is everybody's getting, everybody's got to have nicknames. I was late, I was late to the party with those

last couple. Important announcement before we jump into content, take us to the virtual gathering. 2020 are on sale right now. Hail, Nimrod and fuck you, COVID. We're still gonna get into some community this year. The gathering is gonna take place on November 21st, Saturday before Thanksgiving, calling it sucks-given 2020. We can't plan a phase to face gathering this year

for obvious reasons. We're still gonna have fun. There's gonna be a 90 minute dinner show. It's gonna be a drinking game. It's gonna be a Q&A where you get to eat your turkey. Whatever you're eating, as I share a Thanksgiving exclusive mini suck, some little drinking game moments built into it that will never show up on the time suck or the secret suck feeds. So it's just going to be for this event. You know, you drink alcohol or not, whatever your preference is,

we can share a little community, a little fellowship together through the power of some Zoom software. With a $50 general admission ticket, you get a box of goodies containing a plastic dinner set, shot glass, game sheet, and more mailed to you ahead of the show. With a $75 VIP ticket, you get the same box of goodies, a sucks-giving show, you know, a slash game, plus an intimate group zoom chat with me before dinner on the 21st where we can chat, you can ask questions, get a little tour of the studio, et cetera, something a little more again, intimate. Once the 200 VIP boxes are gone, they're gone.

General tickets on sale now to the end of the month and based on how many tickets we sell and where the tickets come from, time zone wise, then we'll set the VIP tour times and the dinner show time to be the most accommodating times for the most people. Excited to still do a get together. If it all goes well, it's going to give us that much more confidence to make the 2021 in person gathering bigger and better if viruses allow that to happen. So excited for that. And thanks again to the space lizard for making it possible for bad magic productions to donate

$6,600 to YWCA Idaho.org. Mark in the donation General Fund Idaho County to help fight way too much domestic violence in a county with very few people living it. The county of my birth. So thank you for that. All right. Now let's talk about the MICKYM or USC F-O-U-S-E, fellow mustache, rocking cartoon, making, smoking, drinking, and part building son of a bitch. Notice Walt Meredith Nathaniel Disney III. Yeah. Okay, Walt's middle names weren't Meredith Nathaniel.

He had one middle nickname. It was Elias. And it wasn't the third Walt. He was one middle nickname. It was Elias. And it wasn't the third wall. He was one of the most influential people to 20th century. And I'm excited to share what we've learned about him with you today. In this episode of Time Suck, we're gonna learn all about

the creator of the House of Miles as he grew from a humble animator to one of the most famous innovators of all time. We'll learn about his personal life, including the many myths and conspiracies that surround him. Is this head really frozen? Is it hidden somewhere in Disneyland?

Was you really an FBI informant and anti-comy red scare agent? Before we dive into today's timeline, the best way to move through Walt's life. I just want to note that when it comes to certain moments in his childhood, there were a lot more discrepancies between sources than normal. So if our dates don't line up with the dates, you may have found that's why.

We did our best to decide for between various accounts of who did what and when. That said, we do feel good about being real close to being exactly right regarding the timeline dates if just not being 100% accurate on all of them. On one last thing, just because this subject is Disney, don't think this episode is gonna be G-rated. This suck is very adult, just like all the others,

you've been warned. Now let's hop right into today's time suck timeline and kick Mickey right in his seemingly non-existent dick. Shrap on those boots, soldier. We're marching down a time suck timeline. Walter Elias, not Meredith Disney, was born in the Hermosa neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Over on the northwest side of the city, his birthplace home, 2156, North Trip Avenue, A, still stands, was born in the neighborhood where the Schwinn bicycle company was founded

just six years prior. How very wholesome cartoons and bicycles. Oh man, I throw in some baseball and apple pie. Uh, her most also the neighborhood where the butt plug and double-dong dildo were invented. Oh my heck, that's not true. Uh, I would love it if the inventor of the butt plug was born in the house next to Walt Disney though. How great would that coincidence be? And if both homes ended up being registered as national like historical places, uh, complete with like plaques, you know, along the sidewalk. Picture some kid in a Donald Duck t-shirt.

Mommy, what's the other plaques say? Don't worry about it, Billy. Why are there a bunch of plastic toys laying around in the yard? Those aren't toys, Billy. Well, they are, they are, they are toys, but not just not for you. Don't touch them. Just do not touch them.

I told you to be adult. Hail to Staphina, and now be gone. I have to refocus. What was born to parents, Elias Disney, who's an Irish Canadian man, and Flora called Disney, who was German-American. What was the youngest of four boys? Herbert Arthur Disney, Raymond Arnold Disney,

Roy Oliver Disney, oh Roy. You're gonna be rolled and over and you're grave about what goes on later in this episode. And later on December 6th, 1903, Elias and Flora would have their fifth and final child, a girl Cinderella Elsa Ariel Disney. JK. Her name was Ruth Flore Disney. I would love it if her name was Cinderella, Elsa Ariel. Elias, both father was born on February 6, 1859 in the village of Blue Vale, Ontario, Canada. He was the son of Irish immigrants, Kepple Elias Disney and Mary Richardson, both of Elias' parents had immigrated from Ireland

as children with their parents. And if the name Disney doesn't sound very Irish to you, that's because it's not originally Irish. It's derived from the Normandy French name, Diasne, the Disney, so that's kind of cool, I didn't realize it was an anglicized version of it, Diasne, the Disney's among others, the Senate from Normans who settled in Ireland around the 11th century.

While I don't personally know any Disney's, there are apparently over 6,500 Disney's in the world, with over 5,000 of them in the US. Back in 1840, there were 23 different Disney families living in Maryland alone, and most are either not related to Walt or extremely distant relatives. That's, that's a weird deal, because it seems weird to me. The name Disney has become so synonymous with a brand. I have a hard time thinking about it being the name of an actual person. I have a hard time thinking about some Mr. or Mrs. Disney out there,

especially one that has nothing to do with Walt or his empire. It just means some random meat sack with a surname of Disney, feels about as normal to me as meeting some with the last name of Amazon or Starbucks or Taco Bell. All right, Dr. Taco Bell, I'm ready. Let's do this brain surgery. Alize Disney moved to California with his father in 1878 in hopes of finding gold, but they didn't find gold. They found enough of it. Maybe Walt would have been a minor, not an artist, another weird thought, no Disney. Keppel was convinced by an agent of the Union Pacific Railroad to buy 200 acres of land near Ellis, Kansas,

a little 2000 person town, about halfway between Kansas City and Denver. And Ellis Keppel lived as an orange farmer for a few years before his crops failed and the farm went bankrupt. Elias worked on his father's new farm until 1884 when he decided to seek his fortune elsewhere. He was hired to work in a railroad machine shop. And now let's notably one of his co-workers at that shop was Walter Chrysler, future founder of the Chrysler

corporation. The founder of Chrysler and the father of Walt Disney working in the same little Kansas town machine shop. Elias then joined a railroad crew bringing the Union Pacific line out through Colorado after his railroad contract was over. He became a professional fiddle player in Denver. Huh? Fiddle player. Did not see that coming. I'm sick of working on the railroad all to live long day. I'm sick of just passing my time away. It's time I chase my dream and my dream I need to say it aloud, is the fiddle! Mmmmm, that's livin'! That's, that's, that's good as laugh, yes!

Uh, I, I didn't make a lot of money in Denver, because well, uh, because he's playing the fucking fiddle. I don't think anyone has ever associated fiddle plane with financial stability. Oh wow, dad, look at that mansion! I wonder what whoever lives there did to be able to pay for it Well, if I had to guess Charlie, I'd say that house was bought with some fiddle scratch After his fiddle life didn't lead to stake in lobster and a bank account full of cash Elias had to return to his father's farm again outside of Ellis

Soon he grew tired of farming and headed south where he worked for a short time as a as a mailman in and headed south where he worked for a short time as a mailman in Kassimi, Florida. Ironically, Kassimi is about 12 miles from where his son Walt would later build Walt Disney World. After working as a mailman, Elias attempted, like his father, to make a career as an orange farmer and was unsuccessful. A picture of Sternet Row after Row of Main G, not producing shit orange trees, playing some sad ass song in the fiddle. Hell, the orange is, it is, now that it's citrusy and the furrows I thought they'd be.

Ha, thank God for this here fiddle, helping me get through the tired and frustrated moments of my life. Whisper ass, it'll not produce a shit fucking owns trees, rooting my whole goddamn life. But I got this song, and that's better than anything, I guess. I find it pretty ironic that Walt Disney, become one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time was the son of a man who consistently failed at self-employment.

Elias had a deep and lasting effect on his sons. He always worked hard. From an early age, they learned to pick themselves up by the bootstraps and they learned that one failure didn't mean the end as long as you just keep trying. Hail Nimrod! I like that lesson. He also might have given the inspiration for the Disney theme parks. Elias was a construction worker for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, which is store

in Eric Larson interprets as a source of inspiration for the later Disney kingdoms. I hear about the World's Fair from Elias, young Walt Imagine Miles upon Miles of shops, exhibitions, and entertainment and dream he would eventually realize. Elias also ironically hated popular entertainment. He followed the going to the movie theaters specifically was a quote complete waste of time. Funny that his son would make his fortune off of those who strongly disagreed with his father's sentiment regarding cinema. To be fair, it was dad though.

Back in the early 20th century, movies were shit. And yet another ironic twist, Elias was an ardent socialist and a supporter of Eugene Debs, one of the founders of the industrial workers of the world and a five time candidate for president of the United States with the socialist party easy Bojangles. I know I know I know good boy. No need to growl. We all know you're not a big fan of you know anything other than dog eat dog capitalism pun kind of intended. Uh, funny that son of a socialist would go on to become one of the most successful capitalists of all time. Not as much seems to be known about Walt's mother Flora. Flora call Disney was born in Stubano, Ohio, the daughter of Henrietta Gross in Charles

Cole. She had three sisters and a brother of German and English descent grew up next door to a home that Elias' parents lived in before they took off for Kansas. So Walt's dead literally married the girl next door. Flora married Elias on January 1st, 1888 in Kismet Lake County, Florida, and they had five children. Herbert, as I said before, Disney born in 1888, Kismet Lake County, Florida. And they had five children. Herbert, as I said before, Disney born in 1888, Raymond, born in 1890, Roy, 1893, Walter, 1901,

and finally Ruth in 1903. Soon after their marriage, Disney moved to Chicago. Their alliance befriended Walter Parr, a preacher for whom the Disney's four son, Walter, was named. By all accounts, Flora was a devoted and loving wife who raised her children according to strict Christian principles. Elias was a strict and rigid disciplinarian, a man who never drank or smoked.

And really, he was kind of a stick in the mud after, you know, after you hung up that fiddle. All that old time he happened, it just went away. I used to have fun, I used to dig in Denver now, I'm with my kids in Chicago, and which my life was over and I can't make it to business this run. Oh, lost my will to live after the orange stirs grew failing. You get it. Oh, Florida was a fun 11-month play games and sang songs with children. 1906, the Disney Family moved to Marcelline, Missouri. 1906,

Marcelline was popping. It was climbing towards its all-time population high of almost 4,000 people in 1910. About 2,000 people living there today in a little town about a two hours drive northeast of Kansas City. On March 5th, 1906, a lies about a 40 acre farm just outside of town. And Marceline was where Walt would spend most of his childhood. Marceline is sprung up along with many towns when the Santa Fe Railroad linked Kansas City in Chicago in the 1880s. By mid-Summer 1888 several businesses were flourishing, churches were built, plans were underway for the first term of school that fall. Mining of the area's substantial deposits of coal had already begun to fuel the coal burning locomotives of the Santa Fe.

It was in Marcellein that Walt intended his first school, saw his first motion picture, caught his first fish, attended his first school, saw his first motion picture, caught his first fish, and it was at the Marcelline grade school where Walt Disney was first exposed to the entertainment business. He had the title role in a class production of Peter Pan. In 1953, Peter Pan would be the 20th feature film the Disney would produce. Walt's memories of Marcelline had a profound effect on how he'd portray classic American childhoods

in small towns and movies and shows for many years to come. Main Street USA and Disneyland is actually based on Kansas Avenue, the main drag of Marcelline Missouri. Walt also devoted or developed his lifelong love for trains, grown up Marcelline. Part of the reason is theme parks would be successful early on, which is because tourists love the trains that moved through and around them. Family life in Marcelline was comfortable if not extravagant for the Disney's. Flora always made sure that children had good meals, so the warm clothes in the colder

months, and talked on about the animals on the farm. Walt developed a love of animals in Marcylein, especially their funny expressions, expressions that at times looked almost human, and he would remember those expressions when he began to draw his animal cartoon characters later. Years later, Walter drew up plans to build a small theme park in a little Marceline. Sadly, those plans died when he did. In 1910, Elias fell ill with typhoid fever, not good,

pneumonia. The farm failed, and the Disney's now moved into a rented house. So sad times for the Disney clan, another business failure for for less There's your own trees This went to shit try to rebuild my life in Chicago. Well, that didn't work out Thought I could make a name for myself and Marceline Bazaria. That's a tie-forward got me

Soon pneumonia as well Probably a few other ailments right my god McGill's pop hit hard at one point, and boom, I'll hold off. Trying to make a name for myself, and provide for my family. 1911, moving once again, the Disney family relocated to Kansas City, Missouri. They lived in a, oh wait,

ha ha, did I just say that? Oh no, I didn't say that. That sounded like exactly, we were just, I got carried away my little fiddle, daydream. I know they did move once again in 1911 sounded like exactly. I got carried away my little fiddle, Daydream. I know they did move once again in 1911 and they relocated to Kansas City, Missouri. I was thinking they're already living there.

Not yet, easy comments. They're still in Marcelline. Now they go to Kansas City and they rent a house at 2706 East 31st Street. They stay there until they buy a modest house at 3028, Belfontein Street in September of 1914. Walton Ruth, a 10-benton elementary school, just a few blocks away. On July 1st, 1911, Elias purchased his newspaper delivery route for the Kansas City Star, once

again, looking for his next business. Walton Roy helped their dad deliver papers, deliver the morning paper, the Kansas City Times, to about 700 customers, and they delivered the evening paper, the Kansas City star to more than 600 customers. Now crazy is that. At one time, they were mourning and evening papers in some cities. If I did know that before, I forgot about it. I guess in the days long before the internet and TV and before even radios were used for the news, there was just a little more demand for written, hold it in your hand today's

headlines, kind of content. Elias also delivered butter and eggs from a farm in Marcelline to his newspaper customers. It was a hustler, gotta respect that. Elias expected his boys to work and help as well. The Disney boys developed a strong work ethic from their father at a young age. They developed such a strong work ethic.

They even sought out their own jobs, hadn't got to work between 1911 and 1916, and the age is a 10 to 15. Walda actually works selling candy and newspapers on the train that traveled back and forth between Kansas City and Chicago during this time that he started to draw quick cartoons pictures of things he saw on the train rides when he had a free moment. Sometimes he sold these pictures to family and friends. Imagine if you had one of those pictures hidden amongst your family's keepsakes when early drawing of Walt Disney.

Oh, some early sketches Walt made when he was 16 sold back in 2015 for 200 grand. During World War I, Walt drew a Patreon at cartoons for his high school newspaper. Those drawings displayed his passionate support for the troops, including helpful suggestions like buying, saving stamps stamps or eating less. So, more food could be sent overseas for the troops. Character of the Kaiser usually took the brunt of Walt's youthful fervor. As did many people who didn't join the army, Walt felt they were slackers. He was a huge supporter of the military, and he'd be extremely patriotic for the entirety of his life.

Elias sold his paper out on March 17, 1917. Back when I guess you could sell paper routes, that seems weird to me. He been investing in the OZL company of Chicago since 1912. He's got to get back to Chicago, make his money there. And he wants to move back to the city, move back in 1917 to take an active role in its management, the Disney's rented Chicago flat at 1523, Algonne Avenue. The OZL company made soda pop and all natural fruit based carbonated beverage.

They kept folks off the booze and the jack juice. Walt didn't move when his parents did, but he would soon join his family later in the year. And at his father's urging, he took a job at the OZL factory floor, Washington, jelly jars, pulpen apples, and then packing cartoons. And then poor Elias, he would lose his ass in his OZEL soda pop venture. Within a few short years, the company goes bankrupt and all his investing, all his hustling for this company leads to shit, leads to absolute nothing.

You'd think after failure is in the orange business and pay that on the farm that I could least make some of that goddamn soda pop money. People seem to enjoy it. Oh, no, I'm fucking cursed. I hate my family, I hate my jobs, I hate my life. Only, I don't know what I'm talking about. June 22nd, it's the Phil music. I started playing that song and it just takes over. June 22nd, 1917, Waltz Brother Roy Disney joins the Navy

and Waltz other two older brothers, Ray and Herbert. They were already serving in the army now wanted to be the slacker He'd been making fun of it his cartoons wanted to follow his older brothers footsteps Walt tries to enlist But he's rejected from the army for being underage So he joins the Red Cross instead and he sent to France for a year to drive in ambulance as a member of the American ambulance Corps only 15 years old. How damn it, dude, was a go-getter. He would later tell his daughter Ruth, when she was a grown woman. I tried fighting in the war at 15.

I joined the Red Cross when they wouldn't let me in, and I did what I could. Did that after working on a train the previous five years. I made my own fortune through blood, sweat, and tears. And what the fuck have you done, Ruth? What have you done? You spoiled shit. You've sucked upon my generous teeth for too long. You've trusted your way into shame and dishonor.

You fucked the sons of half my upper management. If you could, I'd bet you'd fuck Peter Pan and Prince Eric and even go for it. Get out of my house! You're not my daughter! Sorry, that never happened. That'd be dramatic a shit, though. Waltz, my knowledge, never said any of that to his daughter.

What he did say to his daughter, regarding his experiences in France, World War I, many years later was the things I did during those 11 months I was overseas added up to a lifetime of experience. It was such a valuable experience that I feel that if we had to send our boys into the army, or if we have to send our boys into the army, we should send them even younger than we do. I know being on my own at an early age made me more self-reliant. Even even younger? I wish you would have been more specific with the age. We should be sending 10-year-olds.

Now, what are the front lines? Fight the goddamn Nazis. Kids today are too soft, complaining about how hard fractions are, about not getting enough mac and cheese every night for dinner. Kill the Nazis in the trenches of Western Europe! That's hard! Then you just slams this full glass of bourbon neat down in the trenches of Western Europe, that's hard. And he just slams his full glass of bourbon neat

down on the table after pounding it in one gop. That's the walled I want to daydream about. During his time in World War I, Wall was assigned to a chateau in the St. Sussire that was so dank and chilly he wrapped himself in newspapers before going to sleep to stay warm. Later he was transferred to the evacuation hospital number five in your Paris, after which he was transferred directly into Perry and assigned to the motor pool.

I spent his spare time drawing posters, cartoons for soldiers and painting cartoons on jackets. And if you had one of those jackets hiding on a hanger somewhere, you don't have a lot of money right now. I bet you at least ten bucks for it. Look, I'm not an antique's roach, though, expert. I'm going to say, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll bet my life. You get upwards of $10. One of those jackets on October of 1919. Walt returned to the US at the age of 18. Move back to Kansas City on a recommendation from his brother Roy. He landed a job at the POSMAN Ruben Commercial Art Studio for $50 a month.

Located at 14th and Oak, it's sadly now long gone. It was a stone throw from where the T-Mobile Center now sits. if you're a Kansas City sucker. A place where Rage is against the machine and run the jewels were supposed to perform last month before COVID took a giant infected shit on live music. Anyway, young Walt had an apprenticeship drawing commercial illustrations for advertising, theater programs, and catalogs. Working right next to where many of you Kansas City listeners probably walked around buzzed after a good show. Look at you Johnny Deere. The art studio Walt Met cartoonist, Ube I works. No excuse me, Ube, Ube I works. No, it's Ube Eirt. That's right, it's full name. This guy's name kills me. Ube Eirt I works.

Better known, there we go, as Ube-i-works. Because this full name is even shitter than what he said on being called. Being called No Fence-Ube. This guy, one of the most famous animators, really of all the time, that's not commonly known, and just what a weird name to me, Ube. The two became lasting friends.

I-I-works was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and then probably Rosalie T's is entire childhood. For having a terrible silly name. It caused me to withdraw, you know, use all the time a normal kid would spend playing with actual friends to get really, really good at drawing. I'm guessing. Considered by many to be well-scheduled as friend, Ube Iwerks, would spend most of his career working for Disney and would be responsible for the distinctive style of the earliest

Disney animated cartoons, including a certain famous mouse. Do you know which mouse I'm a little into right now? Can you guess? Did you guess Mickey Mouse? You did? Holy shit! You got a psychic or something! That was super impressive.

Your mom would have didn't raise no fool. For Christmas of 1919, the Roseman Ruben commercial art studio is revenue to clients in both Walt and Uber laid off. They start their own business, the short-lived Iwerks Disney commercial artists, but without many clients and only one decent name between the two of them. It doesn't laid off. They start their own business. The short-lived IWRx Disney commercial artist, but without many clients and only one decent name between the two of them, it doesn't take off. And the two decide that Walt should work as an apprentice at the Kansas City Film Ad Company where he makes commercials based on cut-out animation. And this is where Walt gets his first exposure to animation.

His first love would always be comics, actually. And super cool. Before this week's suck, I always thought that Walt developed his initial cartoon chops in the Los Angeles area. Nope. Kansas City was the first incubator of his later animated empire. Around this time, Walt begins experiment with the camera, doing hand drawn cell animation and that's C-E-L, not two Ls. Hand drawn cell animation, which is a kind of animation that allows parts of the cartoon set to be repeated on each slide or cell. So you only have to redraw the part of the picture that's moving, which saves time.

Walt decided that cell animation was much more profitable than cut out animation, where each frame has to have its elements cut out instead of drawn, way more time consuming, you know, rearranged for each, you know, camera slide for each frame. But he couldn't persuade his bosses at the Kansas City ad company to try and sell animation. So he quit. He wasn't gonna work with dinosaurs. From an early age, you knew you got to innovate,

got push, push, push, evolve or die. Walt opened a new business with co-worker, a co-worker from the Phil Mad Co, Fred Harmon, Walt was then contracted by Milton Field, who owned the local Newman theater to animate 12 cartoons called Newman's Laugho Gramps. And we'll decided to make the first six modernized versions of fairy tales, and he studied Aesop's Fables as a model.

And in May of 1921, these Laugho Gramps were a huge success, and they are super cool, your animation fan, do a YouTube search of Newman's Laugho Gramps. Both amazing how far animation has come since then, and also in my opinion just how good these illustrations and this animation was way back in 1921. Walt established Laffer grams studios off of the success of these cartoons and was able to hire more artists, including his friend Iwerks. But the studio was not profitable for long and sadly went into bankruptcy just two years

later in 1923. But like his father before him Walt wouldn't let a couple failed businesses stand in his way Following in his dad's footsteps. He moves to Denver and he starts making some of that fiddle scratch Fuck our tunes I got this fiddle. What can go wrong? No, he didn't do that. He didn't follow his footsteps that closely like his dad He just didn't give up on July 1923 to, the age of 21, Walt decides to move to Hollywood. Showbiz, Mickey Mouse watches Fat Bottom Spanked. Men is ready for a healthy, don't listen to some chunky, pitiful butter.

That's how they do it in Hollywood. Don't worry about that, new listener. An old listener, start about chunky. I know that was a bit much, but you know, Albert Fish, what you do, you can't control him. Walt's older brother Roy had already moved to Hollywood, or he was recovering from tuberculosis. Walt moved out to be both closer to his brother and also because he helped to become a live action film director. Around this time, the Walt was contacted by Margaret J. Winkler,

first woman to ever produce animated films. Margaret had recently lost the rights to several of her films and needed new stories. Damn, Shelby, it's sweetness, had bamboozled her! As many of them continue to do to people today. She'd seen the 12-minute Alice Wonderland film, which was never shown theatrically, was a mix of live action and cartoon in the style

of Mary Poppins that Walt had made for Lathagrams, and she wanted Walt to make six more Alice cartoons for her. On October 16th, 1923, Roy and Walt signed a contract with Margaret Winkler and called themselves the Disney Brother Studio. Humble beginnings, I love this. They started working out of their uncle, Robert Disney's Garage, at 4406 Kingswell Avenue,

in Los Felas. Few weeks later, they ran to room with the back of a real estate office, at 4651 Kingswell Avenue. A block-in from that Starbucks at Prospect and Vermont, Los Feliz LA listeners, Roy operated a second-hand camera. The brothers hired two people to paint the cells and Walt of course did the animation. In February 1924 the studio moves next door to the real estate office into a space of their own 4649 Kingswell Avenue. Walt hires the first animator, not also named Walt Disney, Rollin Hamilton, written in the window of their

non-descript low rent space as Disney Brothers Studio. Awesome. Walt and Roy didn't come from money, they didn't get big investors to see them, they grew as they could afford to, they moved up off a sweat equity. On July, Walt persuades, please get yourself a nickname that doesn't rhyme with Boob or I works to move to Hollywood from Kansas City to work for the Disney Brothers. For the next four years, Walt works on these Alice pictures with with Boob, I works and continues expanding his business. These early films, which you can now also find on YouTube, were theatrically released back in the silent film era when a movie theater ticket purchased a whole lineup of early entertainment, featuring a feature film that they would typically run a little over an hour. Several supporting works from categories such as the second feature, like a B feature that would typically run also a few minutes over an hour, maybe a short 10, 15 minute comedy

or a five, 10 minute cartoon in front of those, sometimes a travel log, often a news reel, and Disney cranked out these little cartoons for these films. These little feature film opening acts entertainment appetizers. Then in early 1925 Walt started doing a little less drawn and a lot more deep Dickin you heard me it's kind of true He still did a lot of drawing but he also did start doing some deep dickin He hired an artist named Lillian Bounds and the two quickly fell in love.

And they got married on July 13th, 1925. Walt would later quip. I couldn't afford to pay her, so I married her. Little Idaho connection with Lillian, Lillian was born in Spalding, Idaho, February 15th, 1899. Grew up and lap way Idaho on the Nez Pierce Indian Reservation. Towneye drives straight through every time I visit my, down in the Riggins and Whitebird area. A laploi small population around 1100,

and it's not in great shape. Poverty is the norm, pretty rough. So much so that I once drove the kids through it just to be like, hey, you know what, this is how life is for some people. And you gotta have compassion about that. And you gotta work hard to make sure that you don't end up in kind of like dire straits.

I mean, it's pretty rough. The nicest part of the town by far has always appeared to me to be the high school. So much nicer. I've always wondered, like, why did he get so much money? And the rest of town didn't, well, now I know. Over the years, mostly in the 80s, Lillian, Disney donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Lapway's high school. So it's a pretty cool, hey, Lillian'Lillian moved to Los Angeles in 1923 and Walt was right about not being able to afford a payer. Roy and Walt often asked her not to cash or $15 a week paychecks. He didn't have the money. To kick off 1926, Walt purchased a lot at 2719 Hyperion Avenue in the neighborhood of Silver Lake, close to Los Files. Construction began

on a new studio. In February when the studio in Hyperion Avenue was finished, the company was renamed Walt Disney Studios instead of Disney Brothers Studio. And in March of that year, devastated by having his contributions to the young studio taken out of its name, Roy threw himself into the Pacific Ocean by jumping off the Santa Monica pier and he drowned.

So yeah, so that's a dark spot, obviously, in Walt's timeline. By July of 1927, Walter got tired of the mixed animation and live action format of the Alice pictures. He wanted to produce animation films that were all animation. To start on this new series, he created a character named Oswald, a lucky rabbit, in contract with the shorts at $1,500 each and Lucky would become Walt's first real success as a character The character became a huge starred one real animation also before I move on Roy did not drown

I didn't have it. He was still the co-founder and he'd be Disney CEO from 1929 to 1971 and if you ever felt sad about the name change and he'd be disney c.e.o. 1929 and to 1971. And if you ever felt sad about the name change, you know, I'm guessing he just probably wiped away his tears with $100 bills and threw him into trash cans, made out of diamonds and gold. Within a year, Walt made 26 of these Oswald cartoons. And then when he tried to get some additional money

from a distributor for a second year of the cartoons, he ran into some trouble that could have broken a lesser man. After traveling to New York in February of 1928 to renegotiate his contract, he discovers that Disney's New York distributor, Margaret Winkler and her husband, Charles Mintz, had gone behind his back and signed on almost all of his animators, hoping to make the Oswald cartoons in their own studio for less money without Walt Disney. On rereading his contract, Walt realizes he doesn't own the rights to Oswald. He came up with him, doesn't own the rights. The

distributor did fucking Margaret. The swindler. The swindler becomes the swindler. I hope Margaret's burning to town hell right now. Didn't get in pitchforked by an evil Mickey. I thought you could fuck world, how Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha I was painful lesson for Walt. When he had to learn, from this point on, I'll make sure that he owns the rights to all of his cartoons. Sadly, he had to walk away from Oswald and start over. While he'd lost his animation staff, his faithful friend, I works, did stay by his side. Good old Boo by twerk, wherever fuck his name is.

Walt's on the train ride back to California from New York, fired up about having a character that could have made a fortune for him, stolen. He plays a little game of success as the best former revenge. And it begins to develop a character that will quickly build a media empire unlike any other in history. Little mouse character. Based on an actual mouse, he'd seen running around the Laffe Graham studio. A mouse he didn't initially name Mickey. He named it Mortimer Mouse. And it was Idaho's own Lillian Disney who thought that Mortimer was a little too pretentious. She was wanted to suggest Mickey.

Well, old Boob Freikork probably thought Mortimer was a fantastic name. Walt returned to the studio, worked with Ube to help develop the character. It was I twerk or pie jerk or I worked whoever's name was who could draw Mickey Mouse while Walt provided Mickey's voice or he would draw, they could both draw him, but he was one who would draw him after Disney came up with him. And then Walt would provide Mickey's voice until 1947. The first two Mickey Mouse cartoons were silent animations produced by Walt Ron and their wives and Iworks.

The first was playing crazy. The second was the Gallup and Goucho. And the two earliest Mickey Mouse films failed to find a distributor. Walt realized he needed to kick things up a notch. And to take things to the next level, he may have plagiarized the greatest American comic of the 20th century, Pudy and Juju. Walt read every single Pudy and Juju comic

he could find on the train ride back from California or back to California from New York. And he read the rest once, he made it back to LA. And when he made the famous cartoon, Steamboat Willie, it seems like he may have took some stuff from the Poodie and Juju comics. It seems like an animated Poodie and Juju, if you're familiar. His classic animated short, Steamboat Willie, Mickey arrives at Po-Dunk Landing, really?

Po-Dunk, Poo-Tee, come on, you see it. He later pulls many on board the ship and you can tell by what she's wearing, it's clearly the month of June. June, ju-ju, come on, hiding in plain sight. And then, if you're not convinced yet, when Captain Pete pulls a steamboat whistle, the melody sounds a lot like, Where did your lunchbox, Shirley?

Right? And then the musical scoring for the whole cartoon is clearly too little too little pooty on repeat. Too little too little puny. If you listen, you can. You know what? That was nonsense. If you don't get the pooty and judy reference, don't worry about it.

Takes too long to explain. And none of that ever happened in this portion of the multiverse. In this multiverse universe, when the two earliest Mickey Mouse films failed to find its distributor, Walt realized he needed to kick it up a notch. That part's true. And to take things to the next level, he decides to do what no one had ever done before include synchronized sound in a cartoon. So he hires a professional composer, Carl Stalling, to write the music for Steamboat Willie.

The third Mickey Mouse cartoon, not the first as I actually always believed. On November 18th, 1928, Steamboat Willie opens it to Colin Theater in New York, weird name, hope it was pronounced differently than it's spelled, where the name's small and testine, Auditorium and Guts Playhouse taken already. Steamboat Willie receives rave reviews.

I have to imagine Walt said at least once to himself, if not to anyone else that night, fuck off while the lucky rabbit. Oh, Barry, that flea-bitten clock sucker. I'm coming for you Margaret. I'm coming and hell's coming with me. I don't know, something like that. Film companies all wanted the rights to Mickey Mouse

and Walt, not quite 27 years old, but now a savvy veteran in his, in the still new fields of animation and cinema, he wasn't gonna give anybody else an easy deal. After a bidding war, he goes with Pat Powers, head of Universal Studios, who wants to promote Cinephone, a new type of audio for film. Walt returns to California with an initial contract

for only $2,500 less than 30 grand in today's money, but more importantly, complete and total ownership of Mickey Mouse. Now Mickey needs some friends. 1929 Walt creates the Silly Symphony series. Going off the success of animation with sound, he writes stories told to the use of musical cues. These stories featured Mickey's new pals, including a love interest, Minnie Mouse, his mush mouth buddy, I can relate Donald Duck and a couple of dogs, not goofy, not yet. The first in the Silly Symphony series

was called Skeleton Dance, was released in Technicolor, a brand new color technique that Walt Disney held the rights to for two years. Things looking great, but soon, legal trouble showed up once again on the horizon. It seemed like the deal with Pat Powers was going sour. With this new found success, Walt asked Powers for an increase in his fee, powers refused, and then he also signed, uh, I, uh, I works for more money. The friend that it stuck by with, you know, Walt through thick and thin is now gone. Classic boob fry twerks. Just as Mickey Mouse is becoming a national craze,

it seems like Walt's gonna lose it all over again. 1930 Walt breaks off negotiations with Pat Powers. Sock my dick powers, I count that like your rabbit and I'll bury you so deep your name won't appear in anything, wasn't Wikipedia and a podcast after you die. Ho ho ho ho. Can I true? The studio couldn't afford a lawsuit. So Walt walks away and signs

with Columbia pictures. The same year Roy Disney signs the first contract for merchandise. The first piece of Disney merch was it was a children's writing tablet with Mickey Mouse on it. A few Disney lovers Pluto made his appearance in Mickey Mouse cartoon, the chain gang this year. I always think about Pluto. I get it mixed up with goofy. Just so you're not mixed up, they're both dogs, but goofy is a talking humanized dog in Pluto is like a dog dog. Pluto doesn't know.

And that's that's one way to tell them part. Another way is just remember Pluto's dick is a red rocket. Goofy has a slightly tan human-like fallace and also neither one of them are real jangles. So who really cares, you know, moving on. The first official theater based Mickey Mouse Club also kicks off 1930 on January 11th. It was conducted at the Fox Dome Theater in Ocean Park, California. In order to watch a live Disney theme show, people would have to become a member of the Disney

Mickey Mouse Club. Smart. Sixty theaters would host clubs by March 31st. The club released its first issue of the official bulletin of the Mickey Mouse Club on April 15th, 1930, had no idea that club started way back in the 30s. I thought I started in the 50s. Despite widespread popularity, despite the success of Mickey, it was still difficult for Walt to keep his business afloat. Kicking things off during the great depression, not helping. He was overworked himself in his employees as well. Despite having a good team, he'd still lost his best animator, one of his best friends and that former employer,

Goob Fly-Smerks. And his wife has a miscarriage in 1931 and then he has a full-on nervous breakdown in October of 1931. Takes the vacation on doctor's orders, he and Lillian go to Cuba, then take a cruise over to Panama. And in 1932, he's back, baby. Goofy makes his first appearance in the cartoon Mickey's review, seven-minute-long animated feature released on May 12, 1932, he's back, baby. Goofy makes his first appearance in the cartoon, Mickey's review, seven minute long animated feature released on May 12, 1932. Also in 1932, Disney requested Columbia pictures, pay him a little more money. Increases, increases advance on each cartoon

to the amount of $15,000. And Columbia says, for some talking animal bullshit, go fuck yourself. They may not have said that, but they did the Kleinist request. So Walt never afraid to burn one bridge when there's another bridge leading to a better offer. He takes his business to United Artists who agrees to the $15,000 proposal.

United Artists also agrees to grant a Disney 2 years exclusive use of three color technicolor. Using technicolor, the first Disney color cartoon released on July 30, 1932, called Flowers and Trees, eight minutes of animated glory. The first commercially released film to be produced in the full color, three strip, technical process. And in November of that year, Flower and Trees wins the Oscar

at the fifth Academy Awards for the category that was then called Short Subjects, Cartoons, a category introduced that year. So Walt's pulling a Jefferson, he's moving on up on May 27th 1933 three little pigs. The 36th Silly Symphony is released, audiences everywhere loved it. That's the first Disney cartoon I can remember watching three little pigs. Lane on the living room floor, pop-a-ward and grandma buddies, little one level three bedroom, one bath cottage.

It was the coolest house in the entire world to meet with a little kid, eating cheddar, cheese slices, and salting crackers for a snack, and smelling grandma Betty Cook dinner. There's loads of some good days, and Disney was right there for it. An animator Chuck Jones observed, this was the first time that anybody had ever brought characters to life in an animated cartoon. There were three characters who looked alike, but acted differently. And this is the turning point for Walt Disney Studios. The gripping story of the three little pigs led the producers to the realization that an emotionally low-dust story

was just as important as good animation. So the studio now began to hire storytellers who worked in a story department, separate from animators, who worked on writing narratively interesting stories on storyboards. So progress, push, push, push, got to innovate, evolve. On December 18th, 1933, Lil Lilian gives birth to Diane Marie Disney,

a couple's first and only biological child. She'd grow up to be a patron of the arts, as well as a lifelong classical music enthusiast and philanthropist. She'd also become a historian of sorts, writing articles and books about her father. She'd go on to have seven children of her own, who unsurprisingly would fight bitterly over Walt's enormous fortune when she died. The family business would ironically destroy many Disney family relationships is a sea of lawsuits followed the last of Walt's children dying in 1993.

And then the grandchildren, you know, could only get their inherited millions, hundreds of millions. If three trustees felt they demonstrated maturity and financial ability to manage and utilize such funds in a prudent and responsible manner, they didn't feel that way about the grandkids and shake out crazy. More money, more problems. June 9th, 1934, Donald Duck debuts in a silly symphony film called The Wise Little Hen. A Waltz requiring more than ever from his animators now. By all accounts, he was an extremely demanding boss.

His animators would use the code that man is in the forest as a warning to other workers to get busy and what was walking by. I get it. You know what wasn't demanding because it was fun. No, not because he wanted to be a tyrant. He just had a lot of shit. He wanted to get done. He had a vision. He wanted to realize. He needed more output than ever. He believed that the most profitable cartoon of all would have to be a feature length. No more shorts. This is new. People hadn't done this before. In 1934, the studio begins a four year long project based on the fairy tale of Snow White. They wanted to be a feature length film.

When news leaks out about this project, many in the film industry predicts it will bankrupt Walt in his company. Industry insiders actually nicknamed Walt's feature movie plan, Disney's Folly. It was to be the first ever sell animated full length feature film and the budget of the film would balloon to 1.5 million Which was an unbelievable sum at the time According to a US inflation calculator that'd be almost 30 million today might not sound much You know like much compared to you know today's big action blockbuster budgets

That will go over 200 million and stuff, but but that wasn't the way movies were made back then that wasn't the norm at all Disney was still a small production studio A 1934 would also mark the beginning of what is known as the golden age of animation that would last until 1941 when so many characters were created, you know, especially just a between Disney and Warner Brother alone. A 1935 mostly characterized by Walt facing out to Mickey Mouse Club and just wasn't profitable despite being popular and its initial incarnation would last with last only three years. December 21, 1936, Lillian and Walt adopt Sharon May Disney, their second child, who was six weeks old at the time. She would grow up shockingly to be an adult film actress who starred in several

erotic movies. They were popular in underground theaters in the 60s, scandal. Movies with titles like Disney does Denver and Daisy Duck make some fuck bucks and Miss Disney drinks some goofy juice and then the classic that still actually does get a lot of views the happiest push on earth And of course, that was crude nonsense. That was Boris gobbledy gook And reality Sharon went on to be elected to the board of directors at the Walt Disney company She was also a trustee the California Institute of of the Arts, the Mary Ann Frostig Center of Educational Therapy, and the Curtis School Foundation. Basically, she grew up to do a lot of nice, rich lady shit. She signed big checks to where the causes and attended board meetings,

where everyone was super duper nice to her, because they wanted more of her dad's money. Sounds pretty fucking sweet. A year later, December 21, 1937, snow white in the Seven Dwarves, premieres at the Carthage Circle Theater in Los Angeles, California, and it was not the flop many in town predicted. Its success would pave the way for Disney to go for being a cool Artie Little Animation Studio to be an immediate empire. Snow White, huge commercial success, grossed over 66 million. That's over a billion in today's money during this 1937 theatrical run before reaching 185 million with the help of

Re-releases in 1983, 87, 93. Today adjusted for inflation, it's still the 10th highest grossing film of all time. Also, one eight Academy Awards as a joke, the Academy presented Disney with a full-size Oscar and seven miniature Oscars. They were presented by a 10 year old Shirley Temple. Within six months, Disney's paid off all their bank loans. We're putting money into corporate savings account for future features. Disney's folly was a grand slam home run. With work on Snow White finished, the studio begins producing Pinocchio in early 1938,

Fantasia in November of the same year. Never cared for Fantasia. I know a lot of people love it. I always thought that was boring. November 26, 1938, Waltz mom flora passes away and the story of how she dies is terribly sad. She died as a result of an accident that would haunt Walt for the rest of his life.

Money sadly does not insulate you from tragedy. After the success of Snow White, Walt and Roy Dizzy celebrated by giving their parents a new home in North Hollywood near the Disney Studios in Burbank. How cool. Every kid's dream, right? If you have a good relationship with your parents at least to become rich enough to be able to give your parents a luxurious retirement.

I used to daydream about doing exactly that for my parents all the time when I was a kid. I'm going to buy a mom a big house. Record show that employees from the studio built the house very quickly too quickly and didn't put enough stock into safety. I have no doubt that Wal and Roy push them to build it fast. I mean, they wanted to see mom smile and cry tears of joy as soon as possible. I'm sure less than a month after moving in a floor, complaints to her sons of problems with the gas furnace.

Not good. Studio repairman sent out to the house, but the problem persists. Couple weeks later, Flora writes a letter to her daughter Ruth describing the wonderful new home, but again, complaining of the fumes coming from the furnace. Gas leak. A house sad she knew still wasn't fixed. Then on November 26, 1938, Florida dies of exphyxiation at age 70 due to the defective furnace, right? It's just a carbon monoxide poisoning. Prior to the gas leak, she'd been in perfect health.

Of course, Walt and Roy blame themselves. I personally, I personally blame Roy okay listen listen hear me out wallets making you know sure that the movies are awesome right he's coming up with a lot of drawings he's fucking busy and what's Roy doing I mean can't you at least make sure you don't kill your fucking mom Roy huh is that too much to ask Roy sorry that's where that came from uh lilyan isn't tomb next to her husband in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. Roy and Walt were obviously crushed.

In this accident, it may have made its way into many of Disney's most famous movies. Have you ever noticed that the mothers of Disney heroes and heroines are usually dead? View of any have only single parent mothers. Stepmothers are usually evil, bad replacement for loving mother gone too soon. Many have speculated this all comes from Walt's loss of his mom,

especially because two of the most remembered and notable examples of this phenomenon occurred directly after she died. The long imprisonment of Mrs. Dumbo, or Mrs. Jumbo, excuse me, and Dumbo, which came out three years later, 1941, but you know, it had been worked on, you know, work began on it shortly after his mom's death, and the dramatic death of Bambi's mother in Bambi, which came out in 1942. And there's many other examples from Pinocchio to Peter Pan, who uses Wendy as a deserving kind of girlfriend, kind of mom's surrogate.

Ariel has six sisters and a dad, no mom, Jasmine from Aladdin, no mom, Bill from Beauty and the Beast, no mom, and the jungle book Mowgli's mom is killed, and Tarzan, both the Tarzan's parents are killed, Jane's mom is nowhere to be found, even Goofy. The Goofy. The Goofy movie is a single dad to his son Max, and the list goes on and on.

If Waltz's mom was gone, then none of his cartoons would get to have mom's either. What would make his cartoons suffer? They would pay for what his stupid, careless mom killing brother Roy did. They'd be clear. Roy Disney didn't have anything to do with his mom's death. I want to make that very clear. It's just, I just mean silly. I'm crazy. Listen, Disney is a so happy company. It's powerful lawyers. I can't afford to fight. So just not sense. Don't even forget about

it. I mentioned Bambi moment ago. In late 1938, the studio started the production on Bambi, which wouldn't be released for several years because of something Walt did not anticipate, animators needing practice drawing animals. He was maybe familiar with it, but they weren't. A pair of fawns had to be shipped in from the area of present day backs for State Park and Maine to the studio so that the artist could watch the fawns

and replicate how they moved. And how cool is that attention to detail? Gotta get those fawn movements perfect. The new Burbank campus for Walt Disney Animation Studios opens in December of 1939, Walt uses his snow white money to buy 51 acres in Burbank. 500 South Buena Vista Street. Still there, still in use.

The new soon to be empire has a proper headquarters. On February 7th, 1940 Pinocchio opens at the center theater in New York City. Six months later, November 13th, 1940, Fantasia opens at New York's Broadway theater. Neither movie performs well to box office. I told you Fantasia wasn't any good. They don't do well, partly because revenue from Europe drops following the start of World War II in 1939. Studio made a loss on both pictures and was deeply in debt by the end of February 1941.

Someone's drama, how stressed was Walt, right? He was right there. He just got out of debt. He's killing it. Nice fucking back in debt. Right. There's the war going on. There's a chance he could lose it all. April, 1940, due to losses from Pinocchio and Fantasia, along with the cost of building the new studio in Burbank. Walt decides to offer public stock in Disney. Walt and Roy never wanted to do that. They valued control over their company a lot. But again, money's not looking good. And 600,000 shares of common stock sell at $5 a piece.

Now they could afford to employ their thousand workers. That is some serious overhead. And how many people have become millionaires, specifically from Disney stock? And how many people would have never made little fortunes had they not offered those stocks up? I love thinking about the butterfly effects of all the decisions, how they not been made. You know where it just went to the right? What if it went left, what would have happened then? 1940, the studio needs a hit bad.

They began production on Dumb O. Well originally planted as a 30 minute film, but then expanded it into a feature film of 64 minutes upon us released on November 23rd, 1941, and that's a $850,000 profit. A little under 16 million today, not a huge score, but a score all the same. As we learned in last week's suck in November 10th, 1940, 38 year old Walt agrees to become an informant for the FBI. Walt has a close relationship with the controversial FBI director, Jay Edgar Hoover. Walt hated commies as much as Hoover did.

Remember how his dad was a socialist? Probably formed his hatred back then just an opposition to his father's opinions. Disney allegedly gave Hoover access to some Disney scripts and allowed him to make changes, although there's no evidence he actually did that, and that he interfered with any of the classic animated features. Later in 1954, Disney would be made full special agent in charge contact, SAC contact, a title given to reliable informants for the FBI who could be trusted with equipment. Records indicate Disney continued to help the FBI all the way until his death in 1966.

Now let's back up to 1940. 1940 movie studios begin to unionize. Walt is pissed. He sees this as some pinko-comy bullshit. And these unions almost kill his company. Before we find out how, this is the best spot I could find for a quick little sponsor break. Thank you for supporting our sponsors. I hope you take advantage of some of those deals back to 1940 now and Walt having a big problem with some new animation unions. Two of these unions actively recruited Walt's animators. The animators

angry about long work hours with poor pay, unfulfilled promises to share the profits from Snow White had alienated from Walt himself, who'd become increasingly worried about profitability and spent more time talking lawyers than his animators, and they felt that unionization was their only option. Before 1941, Art Babet, one of the highest paid animators at Disney and the man who created Goofy, he considered Walt his good friend. Babet was unquestionably one of Disney's star artists and returned Walt Disney trusted Babbitt with the brand and the characters he loves so dearly,

then 1940, Babbitt wanted a small raise for his anchors and painters. He owed $18 and $16 a week for the lowest paid in the industry, but Roy fucking Roy! So there was nothing he could do. So Babbitt joined the guild, the animators union and Walt, who saw the union as his enemy, fired Babbitt for doing this. Then three days later, the Disney Strike

begins on May 29, 1941, and it lasts for five weeks. The strikers picketed 24 hours a day, carrying signs illustrated with Disney characters, and they would chant protests in the character's voices. fair pain for all of us. Roy killed his mom, but he can't kill us. Ha ha ha. You'll play this problem. We'll break you up. They didn't protest as characters, but that would have been awesome though. Across the studio, an outdoor cafeteria sponsored by Sympathy, sponsored by Sympathy is served three males daily. Striking artists, drew sketches, distributed to the press, teams of picketers, you know, rushed any theater screening to Disney picture. It's a big problem for Walt.

The president of the United States even got involved, FDR, send a federal mediator who found in the guild's favor on literally every single issue. The studio would sign a closed shop union contract with the guild, wages would rise 25% to the industry's peak. Should the company propose layoffs, an independent joint committee would review them each striker would get a hundred hours and back pay huge win for the animators and huge loss for walls huge loss for walls excuse me the studio is now more than three million dollars in debt due to the strike in the loss of revenue from the war wall was pissed when he appeared in front of the house committees on unamerican activities in Washington

as part of his informant job doesn't accuse some of his animators who'd gone on strike of being comies It'll be years before the company fully recovered September 13th 1931 a liest Disney dies while Walt is on tour of South America He chooses not to return for his father's funeral He did pay for his dad to be in tune inside a casket made out of solid gold and he buried him with the fiddle made out of diamonds. In the hard life, in the good life, made out of made it as an orange farmer, made out of made it as a soda pop tycoon, made out of made it as a Kansas farmer, as a paper route delivery. He didn't get a tough time, but he played mean fiddle. And really that's the end of the day

that's what we'll choose to remember him by. I made you tell you heard the last that fiddle, didn't you? With the war effort ramping up in 1941, there was high demand for war films in propaganda and Walt formed the Walt Disney training films unit within the company to produce instruction films for the military, such as four methods of flush riveting. Oh, what a great flick.

An aircraft production method. So entertaining. The draft took over a third of Walt's artists actually, and for a time, the army even moved some troops into the Disney studios. On August 9th, 1942, Bambi has his world premiere in London and has disappointing numbers at the box office in both London and the US and other foreign cities.

Probably because of the war thing happening. By 1946, the company's debt has risen to 4.3 million. Roy now urges Walt to cut expenses and staff, Walt refuses after the union strike, Walt became a real my way, the highway guy. On November 12, 1946, song of the South is released, going back to Disney's origins, the film is 30% cartoon in 70% live action. And it premieres in Atlanta to mostly good reviews. There is controversy with this movie. It initially grosses 3.3 million at the box office, netting the studio a profit of 226,000, almost 3 million in 2017 dollars.

Now the company is still in debt but surviving. 1947 walled assigns all of his top talent to make Cinderella, which have been in development for several years along with Peter Pan and Allison Wonderland. Also in 47 during the post World War II red scare walled assigns all of his top talent to make Cinderella, which had been in development for several years along with Peter Pan and Allison Wonderland. Also in 47 during the post World War II red scare Walt testifies again before the House on American Activities Committee. He's asked if he ever made propaganda films. This is how he answered.

Well, during the war we did. We made quite a few working with different government agencies. We did one for the Treasury on taxes and I did four anti-hitler films and I did one on my own for air power during the war. We thought it was a different thing. It was the first time we ever allowed anything like that to go into the films. We watched so that nothing gets into the films that will be harmful in any way to any group or any country.

We have large audiences of children and different groups and we try to keep them as free from anything that would offend anybody as possible. We were hard to see that nothing of that sort creeps in. It's interesting that Disney did admit and it seems like you thought a little bad for making propaganda pieces, which is, where does this may sound? It's not necessarily immoral. Not all propaganda is bad. Take an enormous effort to wage war, to win a war, and the United States was definitely

on the right side of World War II. So getting civilians involved was absolutely necessary, enough some propaganda, helped the war effort, then the grand scheme of things. Maybe it was right to make it. But propaganda still is propaganda. Important to at least recognize it when you see it, whether it's good or not. What also told the committee that he felt that there was the communism again in the motion picture industry. He said, yes, there is. And there are many reasons why they would like to take it over and gain control and disrupt it.

But I don't think they have gotten very far. And I think the industry is made up of good Americans, just like in my plant, good, solid Americans. So we did think there was, you know, Tommy's lurking about, but he didn't think he had a lot of minute studio. In 1948, Walton, the Leon, find a property for their new home. They've been looking for several years, lived in a couple different locations, waiting to get their dream home. They wanted to find the right property

and had to be a special property because Walt needed a lot of land because he wanted to train circling his home. Dude loved trains. I would have hated it. Too loud. One of my neighbors put a train in their yard. I might have to blow me up some train tracks. That train better not scheduling a ride between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. or there's going to be a neighborhood domestic terrorism incident. They built their new home in home in Homeby Hills, California, a neighborhood in the district of Westwood in the West Side of Los Angeles, where Walt designed a half mile run called the train's engine Little Bell after his wife. He called it the Carolwood Pacific Railroad.

Around this time Walt also got the idea to really build a theme park, something Mickey Mouse themed. On February 5th, 1950, Cinderella finally debuts in Boston. And it's the first real hit for Disney since their first film Snow White in the Seven Dwarfs. Cinderella earns 8 million at the time, you know, the gross box office rentals. And by the end of its original run, earned 4.15 million in the distributor share of box office gross, which made it the fourth highest grossing film in North America in 1950. And the numbers I gave earlier for Snow White were today's numbers.

Sorry for that little mix up. Going back and forth between what those numbers represent today and what the worth of time. Cindy Ruella went on to be the fifth most popular movie, The British Box Office in 1951. And the film is France's 16th biggest film of all time in terms of admissions with 13.2 million tickets sold. So still on the top 20 over in France. By November of 1950, the studio's debt is down to a cool 1.7 mil. No big whoops comparatively. Despite this debt, they have more than enough operating capital and credit to kick out a ton more movies. Many of them will be very profitable. Throughout the early 50s, Disney studios produced his Alice in Wonderland in 1950,

Peter Pan in 1950, Sword in the Rose in 1952, Lating to Trump in 1953, Lating to Trump alone, earns over six million in profit over its initial theater, theatrical run. Disney will never have money problems again. All these movies, they're out there kicking ass,

they're building fans. Walt now is dreaming more and more about the place that these die-hard Disney fans can visit. His initial concept, the Mickey Mouse Park starts with an 11 acre plot of land across Riverside Drive and Burbank. He was going to have a train, marry you around, some other attractions. He visits fairs, carnival circuses, parks, including the Tivoli gardens in Denmark, Edville and the Netherlands, Greenfield Village, Playland and Children's Fairland in the US, Beckinscott, Model Village in Railway in England, getting ideas for this new park.

He's studying the people who visit these attractions, just as much as he's studying the attractions themselves, what do they want? When they need something, how far do they want to walk to get? I love how fucking meticulous his dude is. He doesn't just like, yeah, it's just about a theme park. No, he visits theme park all over the world, goes on all the rides.

He said he watches the people, what are they buying? What are they doing after they buy something? How long are the lines? How are the lines set up? Attention to detail. So important to be successful, I think. Walt Barrow's on his life insurance begins to assemble a staff to help plan the park. Before settling on Disneyland, he mulls over names like Mickey Mouse Village, Mickey Mouse Park. Finally, he decides the name of the park should be called Disneyland. Walt and Herb, Herb, Herb, the other thing I like to food. Walt and Herb, right, man, drew out the preliminary plans for the park over the course of a weekend. He realized the needs more land to realize his vision. And the Mickey Mouse Park Burbank plan is scrapped.

July of 1953, I got to find a bigger spot of land. 1953, Walt commissions the Stanford Research Institute under Harrison Price to find this ideal location. Burbank is out, but he still wants to stick somewhere around the LA area based on prices analysis for which he'd be recognized as a Disney legend in 2003. Walt ends up buying 160 acres of orange groves and walnut trees in Anaheim, California, a little bit bigger than 11 acres. Tiny bit. The park, the whole resort now currently encompasses 510 acres, 85 for the Disneyland park, and then

hundreds more for everything else. And consulting other amusement park owners, Walt was often met with the same feedback. Don't do it. Other amusement park owners did not believe the park would produce enough revenue to run. And later, Walt would say, Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money. Well, he may not have gone into theme parks with the idea of making money, but holy shit, have they made a lot of fucking money on theme parks. Not this year with COVID, but most years extremely profitable. Disney parks and resorts brought in 26.2 billion dollars in revenue in 2019

According to the Walt Disney Company's 2019 annual report. There were a lot of expenses While I couldn't find 2019 profit numbers in 2014. They did make 2.2 billion in profit just off theme parks Well designed his first park with one entrance gate He reason that people became disoriented with the entrance to multiple gates smart This park with one entrance gate, he reasoned that people became disoriented when they entered to multiple gates, smart. He also designed the park to have Main Street, just like a small town, just like his small town hometown, Marcelline Missouri when they walked in. Main Street would be the hub leading to different areas, so you wouldn't have to walk to several

different neighborhoods to get to the one you wanted. Also, very smart. Despite Disney's films doing well, despite borrowing on his life insurance, he still didn't have enough money to get this park built and run in. So he created a show called Disneyland for then fledgling ABC, that TV network, and in the return, the network agrees to help finance the park. For its first five years of operation, Disneyland was owned by Disneyland Incorporated, which was jointly owned by Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney, Western Publishing, and ABC. The TV show would run under various names every week all the way until 1984. owned by Walt Disney productions, Walt Disney, Western publishing, and ABC.

The TV show would run under various names every week all the way until 1984. First called Walt Disney's Disneyland, then Walt Disney presents, then Walt Disney's wonderful world of color, then wonderful world of Disney, then Disney's wonderful world, then Walt Disney, after two a year hiatus, it returned weekly until 1990, then aired intermittently, then returning to ABC from 97 97 to 2008 then going back to intermittently now back again on disney plus. Yeah now whole series of shows was started to fund disneyland July 16th 1954 construction officially begins on disneyland cost of whopping 17 million dollars to complete by 130 million today's dollars he went fucking big bigger than anyone had ever gone on a theme park before.

On July 17th, 1955, Disneyland opens via invitation only, or at least that's what was supposed to happen. I love this. Inventations were sent out to studio workers, construction workers, the press, officials from company sponsors, then some fans got a hold of them. Then forgeries were made and shit got crazy. Well, over 30,000 people entered the park, instead of just, you know, like around a thousand or

so. People without tickets were literally climbing over fences into the park, like it was mayhem. The park wasn't ready for the public. They ran out of food and drink almost immediately. Weird shit happened, like a woman's high heel shoe got stuck in the still wet asphalt to Main Street. The Mark Twain steamboat damn near capsized because it had too

many fucking passengers. Mickey and Minnie were beaten and left for dead behind the castle. Goofy was found floating face down in the river near the jungle cruise. Pluto killed by a sword on a boat in the underground lake at the bottom of the pirates of the Caribbean right. Maybe those last few things didn't happen, but the rest did. It was a wild day. There were multiple other opening day problems including tons of them, airing live during the ABC Park opening dedication. Microphones were dropped off of rides.

Speeches had to be restarted mid-speech because people didn't know when the cameras were on and when they were off. One of the anchors, a married Bob Cummings, no relation, got caught kissing a dancer in the background. The whole thing actually generated a fair amount of negative press. But in the end, it did matter. On September 8, 1955, just two months after it opened, Disneyland welcomed its one millionth visitor. Huge success. And a big reason for success was Walt's amazing attention to detail.

He learned through animation that people instinctively could tell when something was perfect or not. So he instructed employees to fucking pay attention to everything. Make sure, you know, like all the Mickey Mouse dolls are facing exactly in the same direction on the shelf. Nothing's haphazard, nothing looks sloppy. You make sure all the trash cans at Disneyland check this out are planted exactly 25 steps from hot dog stands.

You make you'd walk it out. Because that's how many steps it would take Walt's normally eat a hot dog. You made sure everything was just so. It didn't become the magic kingdom by accident. About his massive achievement, he would later say, Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long

as there is imagination left in the world. How about that? October 3rd, 1955, Walt reintroduces the Mickey Mouse Club program. This time is a TV show. The Mickey Mouse Club variety television show will air intermittently from 1955 all the way to 1996. Performers called Mouse Cateers.

And famous Mouse Cateers include Ryan Gosling, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Brittany Spears, Justin Timberlake's old Mickey Mouse Club photos are hilarious to me. Future pop and R&B superstar dressed up as a cheesy ass Mickey Mouse cowboy. On October 5th, 1956, the Disneyland Hotel opens on a 60 acre lot next to Disneyland. On October 10th, 1957, Disney introduces a third television series called Zorro, Half-Hour

Adventure on the ABC Network. Last for two seasons. The same year, Bambia's re-released and theaters earns 2 million. Walt is a static. This redeems the movie's disappointing 1942 original release for him. And it will be re-released multiple times more in the coming years. And how cool is that?

You can just take a movie that you've already made that's already been in the theaters and throw it back in the theaters and make more money. On December 25th, 1957, Disney releases a live action film, Old Yeller, Spoiler Alert. He dies. And if that just ruined it for you, be mad at yourself. You've had over 60 years to watch that tear jerker. You'd late to the old, e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e Christian, it's a full scale replica of the first ship to carry the American flag around the world and it costs 300 grand to build.

I've been on it, and if you're hitting Disneyland for the first time, skip it. It's still there in Frontierland and it's still fucking boring. June of 1959, Real Ride, the Matterhorn, a Bob sled race in ride, opens Disneyland as well as the submarine voyage, Dom and Lesser with little kids, and the Disneyland monorail system, whatever, not a big train guy. Motorboat crews and a revamp of autotopia is opened. I used to scare the shit out of my son Kyler on the Matterhorn.

I would sit right behind him. He'd get nervous on the rise. Because I'm a six-centre-of-a-bitch, and as we approach the top of the first drop, I would just start saying stuff like in his ear, I'd be like, don't worry buddy, we should be fine. These rides are always extra safe the day after somebody dies.

Dad, stop it! No, no, no, no, we're gonna be good. It's been weeks since this thing flew off the rails and killed a bunch of people. Dead stop! By that point I usually be laughed for my ass off. I love that memory. And I said all that not knowing that somebody actually did die in that right. We'll get to that soon. 1960 Walt Disney Productions buys out all shares of Disneyland, a partnership with which eventually would lead to the Walt Disney corporations acquisition of ABC in the mid 90s.

Little corporate shaking bake. Disney's going to go through a lot of these. Still going through a lot. On April 25, 1961, Disney becomes debt free again. Everything's paid for profit from movies and cartoons, park visitors. Now all goes directly to Walt Disney Productions corporate bank accounts. On April 5th, 1964, the New York's World Fair opens, featuring previews of four future Disney exhibits including it's a small world.

In 1964, episode of Walt Disney's wonderful world of color, Walt previews detractions being developed for the fair featuring a new, innovative form of animation. He explains that Disneyland gave us a new art and a new type of artist. One that works with a slide rule and a blowtorch instead of a pencil and brush. Just as we learn how to make our animated cartoons talk, we have to find a way to make an attraction figures talk too. We created a new field of animation. President Abraham Lincoln and other figures make his make the audio animatronics debut and animatronics

makes me think of that creepy ass chucky cheese band. I had the house band when I was a kid, Walt and his Imagineers, they didn't invent animatronics, but they did popularize them. Nobody really gave a shit about animatronics until, you know, Disneyland. A ride that never made it to the park, Ford's magic skyway allows guests to hop aboard a new Ford automobile at the at the big world fair product placement cross promo From a trip at the beginning of time, which included some of the dinosaurs currently seen from the Disneyland railroad through the beginning of the space age Walt Disney narration provided by Walt Disney himself August 28th 1964 Disney's Mary Poppins premieres at Gromins Theater in Hollywood, earns rave reviews, nominated for 13 Academy Awards, wins, best actress, best film editing, best musical

score, best song, earns 31 million and North American theater rentals alone during this initial run against the budget of under six mil decent profit. If you consider millions and millions of dollars of Scrooge McDuckmonne to be decent September 14th 1964 President Lyndon Jumbo Johnson, if you get that Jumbo reference, kudos to you longtime sucker Presence Walt with the Medal of Freedom at the White House nation's highest honor for civilians Walt was overjoyed for a few moments and then he went right back to work Wasn't satisfied with the world-renowned studio a theme park and a Medal of Freedom He had more to do he had to finally prove that his brother Roy had indeed killed their mother Walt was more determined than ever to bring the evil murderous Roy

accidental gas leak my ass Disney to fucking justice since their mother slain in 1938 Walt had witnessed Roy grow steadily more evil. Every year, more children disappear near Roy Disney's office. Every year, he shows up to work with more blood on his hands, face and suits. He's craving something Walt heard him to refer to in multiple occasions as a Dreenocrome. In 1963, Roy redecorated his office with boffamate paintings. He begins wearing a black robe to work. He's frequently heard yelling things like,

Satan give me power to rule. And I will raise the dead with children's blood. There will be a new world order. Always yelling this shit around the break room and the copy station. That's fucking crazy, talk. Roy Desi, to the best of my knowledge, has never killed anyone.

His mother's desk was an accident. Please, Disney lawyers, understand that my rantings come primarily from mental instability. There's a comedic ramblings of a maniac, I personally bear no ill-welt, Roy Disney no matter what he may have done, no matter how many unsolved murders he may have never been, you know, brought to justice for. Okay, despite already accomplishing so much, the now 63-year-old Walt still looking for new

ideas. During the early to mid-1960s, Walt developed plans for a ski a ski resort and mineral king a glacial valley in California Sierra Nevada mountains. He has experts such as the renowned Olympic ski coach and ski area designer Willie Schlaferlector. Oh, he's going to be a huge ski resort theme park. Supposed to have 10 restaurants, Disney Imagineers designed a show with singing robotic bears. Well construction in the mountains never happened. Environmentalists led by the Sierra Club worried about the environmental impact that millions of annual visitors would bring to the mountains so they sued the heads of Sequoia National Park and Sequoia National Forest, arguing that the project improperly handed control of too much national force to Disney, and that the highway

through the National Park was in fact illegal. And the Sierra Club was able to hold things up in court for a decade until Congress finally killed the project forever with the National Parks and Recreation Act in 1978. And that place would have been crazy popular. The robotic bears would actually eventually become the country bear jamboree attraction at Disneyland. Ski Resort was only one of Walt's ideas for a new theme park in late 1965, Walt announced plans for Disney World. It would lie a few miles southwest of Orlando, near where his father Elias had once worked as a mailman and Kassimi before Fiddler Saddestruck

and things kind of crumbled. But his son, his son would build something much bigger than a shitty orange grow farm, ranch, whatever, orange things are called. They buy a lot of land so much. Actual theme park built in Disney World will take up 1100 acres. Over 10 times as big as the entire Disneyland theme park. The entire resort sits on roughly 30,000 acres, 47 square miles of land, the Disney World Resort. Disney World was built to include

the Magic Kingdom, a larger and more elaborate version of Disneyland plus golf courses and resort hotels, you know, other theme parks. The centerpiece of Disney World was built to include the Magic Kingdom, a larger and more elaborate version of Disneyland, plus golf courses and resort hotels, you know, other theme parks. The centerpiece of Disney World was a concept that had been brewing in the back of Walt's mind for years. He wanted a real city built inside the park, a utopian community. He called it experimental prototype community of tomorrow

or Epcot Center. And he said about it, Epcot will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and new systems. And Epcot will always be a showcase to the world of the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise. Fuckin' hell, Nimrod. His original vision was for a model community,

which had been home to 20,000 residents, you know, a test bed for city planning, city organization. And most importantly, Roy Disney would never be allowed to poison it with his evil murderous JK. No, it was to be built in the shape of a circle with businesses and commercial areas at its center, with community building schools, recreational complexes around it while residential neighborhoods would align the perimeter and had Walt lived long enough Epcot may have indeed ended up being a utopian model city.

But sadly, Walt's health took a hard turn for the worse in 1966. Walt had been a heavy smoker since he was a teenager in France and World War I. He smoked unfiltered cigarettes back in the days before anyone understood how bad that shit was for your lungs. In November 1966, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was treated with cobalt therapy, it would not work. December 5th, Walt turned 65 and he's too ill to celebrate. Then just 10 days later, on December 15th, 1966, Walt dies at 9.35 a.m. from acute circulatory collapse. Strangely, it has been widely reported that his last words were Kurt Russell as in the

actor as in the man who was a 15 year old child act of the time. If this is true, no one including Kurt Russell knows what it meant. Probably almost certainly an urban legend or a young Kurt Russell conspired to poison Walt's lungs with none other than Roy, this wouldn't be his first murder or Disney. Disney lawyers, please. I'll try and stop. I'll work on it.

The publicity shy Lillie invented in the public arena after Walt's death in 1966. She wanted to fulfill his last dream, opening Walt Disney World. In October 1971, she attended the dedication of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, along with the company co-founder and Walt's loyal brother Roy, the real Roy. That's a made up evil version of someone who seemed to have been a good guy. I think Walt would have approved Julian Cederoi, who himself passed two months later on December 20th, 1971 at the age of 78. Eleven years later she returned to Florida to attend the 1992 dedication of the Epcot

Center, which was not opened as a city, but rather as a theme park dedicated to human achievement technological innovation and international culture More of a permanent world fair than it is a traditional theme park Lily and also supported Walt's passion for educating artists donating 2.3 million dollars to the multidisciplinary California Institute of the Arts Cal Arts which opened in 1971 on May 12, 1987 Lily announced a gift of 50 million to build a new symphony hall designed by architect Frank Geary in Los Angeles. Long time patron of the arts, this was her ultimate gift to the community and to the love of her life. The Walt Disney concert hall,

home in the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a beautiful building, a debut in October of 2003. And then Lily and Suffolk, on December 15,th 1997 31 years to the day after the death of her husband And then she passed away the following day at 98 and with the end of Walt and Lillian's lives Let's hop out of this timeline and take a look at how they're remembered today and Walt's legacy Good job soldier. You made it back Get back, barely. So what a life, huh? A little more about Walt. As we mentioned the timeline, Walt would be a, or could be a demanding boss.

Had he not been, Disney probably would have never become the Empire is today. According to Norman Floyd in his book, Animated Life, A Lifetime of Tips, Tricks, Techniques, and Stories from a Disney legend, Many of those that worked for Walt said that he had high expectations for his staff and praise was rare. Norman recalled it when Disney said that it would work. It was an indication of high praise. So, was Walt an asshole?

No, it doesn't seem like it. It seemed like he was just a real, real hard worker and not a real emotional guy at work. According to his biographers, Walt also wasn't, you know, who his fans thought he was. He was a shy, self-deprecating man who used to warm and open public persona. He knew his public persona was not the real him once saying, I'm not Walt Disney. I do a lot of things. Walt Disney would not do. Walt Disney does not smoke. I smoke. Walt Disney does not drink. I drink. I like this guy. Like with any famous figure, particularly one who lived

before our modern gold standard for politically correct behavior, accusations of anti-semitism, racism, and sexism have been leveled at Walt. Do these accusations have any basis? In fact, let's address them. Started with anti-semitism. On November 10th, 1938, when Nazis and their supporters torched synagogues, synagogues, synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes and killed over 100 Jewish people on that day, Disney personally

welcomed Nazi leader Lenny Reif install to his studio. And Walt Disney, the triumph of the American imagination, Neil Gableur argues this does not prove Disney was racist. He wrote that a Disney studios of the Jews who worked there, it was hard to find any who thought Walt was an anti-Semite. Even Art Babet, the hot shot Jewish animator who Walt fired for joining a union, a man who hated Walt by the end of his time working for Disney, denied that Walt was an anti-Semite. Accudations of anti-Semitism don't seem to come from Walt's personal behavior or beliefs. He didn't invite Lenny Reifenstahl to his home because he was Nazi.

The accusations mostly come from business associations, especially Disney's association with the very anti-Semitic motion picture alliance, CEO founded after particularly bitter labor dispute in 1941. Even if he wasn't personally anti-Semitic, Gableur allows that Disney quote willingly, even enthusiastically, embraced anti-Semites and cast his fate with them. Well also has been accused of being racist. The accusations against Walt are concerned primarily with the use of racial stereotypes in Disney movies in the 1940s.

Critics point to Dumbo's Black Croses, Fantasia's Black Servants, or Black Servants, Cintaret and Song of the South, the entire movie. A movie that the Disney Company will no longer allow to be screened in public. Walt also accused of being sexist. According to Gailor, some of Walt's associates believed that Walt didn't like women in executive roles. Ward Kimball, one of Walt's head animators once recalled he didn't trust women or cats. According to this guy, Ward Kimball.

1939, a woman named Mary Ford, who had applied for an apprenticeship at the studio received a letter that said women do not do any of the creative work and connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen. So was Walt possibly anti-Semitic, racist and sexist? Yeah, yes, for sure, in some ways he was. But to me, the real question was, he more sexist, racist, anti-Semitic than the average white American male born in 1901, not even close. Now, he wasn't.

It was truly a different time than it is now. And to judge Walt by the standards of an era, he never lived in, just doesn't make any fucking sense. I'm gonna hold that opinion forever. You can't judge historical figures by contemporary lifestyle, you know, like culture. It's just a logical. So sorry, Walt Haters, if you're listening,

he doesn't seem to have been a bad guy. If he was alive now, I'm sure he would have a very different, much more evolved opinion about, you know, anything to do with racial relations, male, female, gender kind of roles, and anything, you know, that could possibly be considered as anti-Semitic.

I'm sure he would be very, very different as the times are very different. Now that we've covered the man behind the empire, let's talk a bit about what is arguably Walt's finest creation, the happiest place on Earth, a little bit more. Today Disneyland lies on 85 acres just for the theme park, just for that one. The Disneyland Resort now offers two theme parks, Disneyland and then Disneyland California Adventure Park, which is another 72 acres.

Each has their own unique attractions, shows, restaurants, California adventure in open in 2001. And then there's all the hotels and everything which rounds it out to over 500 acres. In 2018, the park had approximately 18.6 million visits, making it the second most visited in music park in the world, behind only Disney World. According to a March 2005 Disney report, Disneyland alone provides 65,700 jobs.

In addition to Disney World, there's also Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, and the Tokyo Disney Resort. They have four of their own cruise ships, which are basically floating theme parks. Back to Disneyland, there's nine major lands in Disneyland, Main Street USA, Adventure Land, New Orleans Square, Frontier Land, Critter Country, Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, Fantasyland, Mickey's Tune Town, Second boring, and tomorrow land. Tiny bit of info about each attraction. Main Street USA, pattern after again, Marceline, Missouri, or Walt grew up.

It has a train station, town square, movie theater, city hall, firehouse, with a steam powered pump engine, Emporium, shops, arcades, double-decker bus, horse-drawn streetcar, jitties and more. And when my kids were younger, Kyler and Roe were both much younger. I wouldn't as both of them have massive meltdowns on Main Street of the happiest place on Earth. Kyler had a big meltdown

because he didn't get that one extra piece of candy. He felt that he was due after a day of eating so much candy and going on so many fucking rides. And then I watched Monroe go full, Defcon one. While dressed up as Tinkerbell, because she didn't want to sit in the stroller, I told her that she could get out of, if she just calmed down a little bit and waited until we got a little further into the park, Q 20 minutes of full volume screaming. That was a rough rough one. There's a venture land designed to recreate the feel of an exotic tropical place in a far off region of the world.

New Orleans square, my favorite. Based on 19th century New Orleans, opened on July 24th, 1966, home to pirates of the Caribbean, haunted mansion and more. Also home to club 33, a VIP club that has been the source of a lot of illuminati, conspiracies over the years. More on those conspiracies later. Frontier land recreates a setting of pioneer days along the American frontier. If the American frontier would have had popcorn stands and not very fast rollercoasters. Critter country, open in 1972, his bare country was renamed in 1988. Today, the main draw of the

area is Splash Mountain. Log, flume, journey, one of my favorite rides inspired by animated segments of Disney's Academy Award-winning 1946 film Song of the South. It is being redesigned now to not be associated with that movie anymore. Carmen Smith created development and inclusive strategies executive at Walt Disney Imaginary set into 2020 press release. We continually evaluate opportunities to enhance and elevate experiences for our guests. It is important that our guests be able to see themselves and the experiences we create. Because we consider ourselves constant learners, we go to great lengths to research and engage cultural advisors and other experts to help guide us along the way.

I'm incredibly proud to see this work continue forward with great leadership from across Disney. So good for them, right? You evolve. You change. You get smarter. Hopefully Star Wars Galaxy's Edge set within the Star Wars universe and the Black Spire Outpost Village on the remote frontier planet of Batu

that land opened in 2019, replacing Big Thunder Ranch. I still love Big Thunder Ranch. Oh well. Fantasy Land originally styled in a medieval European fairground fashion, but it's 1983 refurbishment turned it into a variant village. Fantasy Land has the most fiber optics of the park, more than half in Peter Pan's flight.

That's a gift that right. It's made since Pan's flight. I had to skip that right. It's me. It's okay. Mickey's Tune Town opened in 1993. It was partly inspired by the fictional Los Angeles suburb of Tune Town in the movie, who framed Roger Rabbit. I still think Jessica from that movie is fucking hottest Disney related character ever. Halo's to Fina.

Loose Fina's presence very strong in the animators who cooked up a little Vixen. Finally during the 1995 or 1955 inauguration Walt Disney dedicated to Marland with writing these words, tomorrow can be a wonderful age. Our scientists today are opening the doors of the space age to achievements that will benefit our children and generations to come. The tomorrow land attractions have been designed to give you an opportunity to participate in adventures that are a living blueprint of our future. Yeah, inspiring. Disneyland producer Ward Campbell had rocked scientists,

Wernhervon Braun, Willie Lay, and Heinz Haber service technical consultants during the original design of Tomorrowland. So that's the happiest place on Earth. Also, a place home to a number of conspiracy theories. One conspiracy is that no one can die at Disney. I mean, they can, but Disney tries to pretend that they don't. Lots of people seem to think that Disney will not allow anyone to officially be cleared dead on their properties, requiring all unfortunate guests to be pronounced dead somewhere else.

In the book Inside the Mouse, a writer claims that a medic said this was actually park policy. And while it might not be official policy, this conspiracy does seem to ring pretty true. According to snopes, anyone who's been seriously injured or is rushed to the hospital, even if they seem like their lost cause are already dead, they're pronounced dead at the hospital outside the park. Despite this policy, people do die Disneyland. 1964 or 15 year old boy was killed trying to stand up while on the matterhorn Bob sled rides. The ride a tease my son, kind of about I had no idea. He's the first death associated with Disneyland,

but he didn't actually die at Disneyland. He was thrown from the ride, scary, died three days later, not at the park. 1973, an 18 year old man did for sure die in the park for the first time. He drowned after he and his little brother, who was 10, hit on Tom's Sawyer Island until after closing, then tried to swim across when they wanted to get back home. The older brother tried to carry his younger brother to shore, but didn't make it. He disappeared under the water about halfway across, and then the 10-year-old was rescued by a ride operator and the older boy's body was not found until the next morning. So, sad times for the happiest place on Earth.

I used to think about hiding in the park. 1998, LaWan Fee Dawson, 33, was waiting to board the Columbia ship. As the boat docked at the rivers of America, it tore a metal cleat loose and that struck Dawson in the head and she was declared brain dead two days later. 2003, Marcelo Torres, only 22, killed on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad when the car he was on separated from the rest of the train. How fucking terrifying. That's the kind of shit I think about when I'm on a roller coaster.

As I'm going up before the first drop, I'm like, God, man, I just stuck up this thing ripped off. Man, we would all, I would die. I would for sure. No, never happens. Never happens. But it does happen. It's not very often.

Torres was the only fatality several other pastors sustained injuries. Craziest death occurred in 1974 when a Disneyland employee was smushed in front of Disneyland customers by a rotating wall. Seriously, this is sad. Deborah Gale's stone, 18, was a greeter for the audience as they entered the America Singh's attraction, which featured, you know, animatronic character singing. She'd stand to the side of the stage, speak to guests with a microphone, then the outer ring would spin around and show the audience the first group of robots.

One night, Stone stood a bit closer to the rotating wall than normal. In a seemingly inconsequential decision, it cost her her life. She was crushed between the rotating wall and the stationary stage wall. Safety improvements were surprisingly, or not surprisingly, made after Stone's horrifying death to prevent future employees from, you know, not being fucking smashed to death in front of horrified guests, mid attraction. This is fucked up, but I wonder if some of those guests,

just for a moment, thought that her getting smushed was just part of the tour. I mean, right? Because you don't know, you know, the tour is, if you haven't been there before, what strange final moments for her to be literally dying, watching people smiling and laughing when you first started getting smushed?

Ha ha, well, well, well, think of next. Wow, that was intense. Little gory, in my opinion, for the kids. Oh, oh, God. Oh, oh, God, that looks very real. Now let's talk about a secret room. Club 33, located in New Orleans Square. Membership to this club is expensive and coveted

with hopefuls waiting on the list for years at a time. When you're finally picked, there's an initiation fee. Some places, they 25 grand, some places, they 50, and then an annual fee of 11 grand. And there is an initiation ritual. Also, this is the most intense part involves being satanized by the zombie, not quite alive, but not quite dead, reanimated corpse of none other than Roy. Why won't I let this go, Disney? I'll try to stop harder.

No, but many people believe that Freemasons have had some secret meetings at Club 33 because 33 is the highest rank of a Mason. And to that, I say, who gives it shit? As I've said before in an episode long ago, have you seen a Freemason lodge recently? How does anyone still think they're controlling anything? Do really that these frequently dilapidated old lodges often nestled into crumbling buildings

full of a handful of board geriatric men in many small towns and cities and then regular olders business networkers and other locations. Do they really seem like they're like they're ushering in a new world order? Get out here. Other sacred clubhouses, not a powerful secret society and Walt Bill Club 33 because he liked a secret clubhouse as do I. Some think the name refers to 33 important patrons

that Disneyland had when the club was being built and opened. I've seen pictures of the inside of Club 33 and a variety of websites, and I gotta say, kind of bummed. It seems super overpriced for a place that you have to pay 25 to 50 grand of joint. There's a bar, and there's a restaurant, the not everybody else can get into, and that's kind of it. It's exclusive.

Membership is cap, just a few hundred members, so you know, it's never going to be crowded, but it's just definitely not holy shit. Massages in caviar VIP, kind of decadent. Now let's talk about something juicier than a boring Disney clubhouse where no one ever gets sacrificed to Satan and where Minnie Mouse never even touches your wiener one time. Did Walt Disney have his body or head, uh, cryogenically frozen? Is this frozen head hidden under the pirates of the Caribbean ride? Yes.

This one, crazy and true. In 1963, three years before his death, Walt authorized a secret cryogenic laboratory to be built beneath Disneyland called Project Eternal Magic. While the strange lab, no one who has ever been crowd-genic-free frozen has been successfully reanimated that we know of, was officially shut down in 1981, there are rumors. The sum of the frozen stasis pods are still down there. There's another rumor that Walt's brother Roy also frozen, and then suddenly in the year 2000, his frozen body vanished or reanimated is Roy out there somewhere,

somehow still alive. Is he still killing moms? Do you think us finally done beating that joke into the ground? Did you believe any of this secret lab nonsense? No, Walt was never frozen. That urban legend likely dates back to an interview in 1972 by Bob Nelson, president of the cryonics society of California. He said that Disney wanted to be frozen, but he also stressed that he was not frozen. There's also the rumor that Walt's body is buried under sleeping beauty's castle. That's not true either. He was cremated two days after his death.

Let's address a few more Disney rumors. Has anyone been scared to death at Disneyland? Scared to death? Sounds familiar. No one has ever been scared to death at Disneyland scared to death. Sounds familiar. No one has ever been scared to death at Disneyland. The haunted mansion opened in 1969. Some say there was an earlier version of the ride and then it was so terrifying that a man invited to preview it suffered a heart attack and died mid-ride.

And then Disney ordered the ride to be toned down to prevent other people from being frightened to death. No, there's no evidence to support that anyone died in the haunted mansion. In 89 year old woman did once break her hip, getting off a doom buggy. And of course, she did. She was 89. Sometimes 89 year olds break hips, watching TV or fucking eating pudding. Another rumor is that Disneyland is full of dead bodies. Seriously, the rumors that the animatronics team who built the pirates, the Caribbean attraction were not pleased with how realistic the robot pirates looked initially. So they hired

some friends at UCLA Medical Center and got some real skeletons and cadavers from the anatomy department and then real dead bodies were used as set deck for a Disney drive. That's fucking no, that's not true. There's no substance that at all. Also a crazy rumor that Discovery Island originally called Treasure Island, a Disney World Island in Bay Lake, open from 1974 to 1999, was shut down so the government could use it as a death camp.

Uh-huh. That makes sense. Sure. Just put, you know, why, why put a death camp in the middle of nowhere and make it hard to find when you can put it right next to Disney World? One of the most tourist-traveled areas in the entire fucking country. That's, it's also nonsense. Uh, there's also nonsense.

There's also some mind-control conspiracies floating around about Disney. Some conspiracy theories accuse Disneyland of controlling your mind through your nose and that's sort of true. Disneyland smells great, not by accident, by design. The smellitizer, not kidding, is a clever device invented by Imagine your Bob McCarthy to manifest a variety of smells throughout the park. The smells are meant to correlate with what you're experiencing. For example, you're gonna smell cookies on Main Street, candy and vanilla at Candy Palace.

If you visit during certain seasons, you may smell what makes you nostalgic for them, like peppermint during Christmas, pumpkin spice during autumn. The haunted mansion designed to smell musty. Pretty amazing. Are we being manipulated by these smells? Yeah, of course.

Manipulation is part of marketing, and no one is better at it than Disney. They know how to sell joy like no one else. Another myth is another true one, a weird one. This is kind of obscure, but the human beings inside the roving Disney characters at the theme park used to have to share underwear. This is a weird little detail because their own undies could potentially bunch up, cause

problems, cast some chafing, as they're doing their characters, and the park was too cheap to buy cast members' individual underwear for many years. Cast members would turn in their dirty undies at the end of the shift, supposedly they were supposed to be properly washed, however, after numerous complaints from cast members about dirty underwear, scababies and even pubic Lice the teamsters union negotiated in 2001 for cast members to each have their own set of Disney approved underwear That they themselves could launder But it's so gross so weird and also not surprised

I have a ton of respect for what wall did and what he built and for how Disney continues to expand as a company But Walt was notoriously cheap with his employees respect for what Walt did and what he built. And for how Disney continues to expand as a company, but Walt was notoriously cheap with his employees. That's why they went on strike against him. And Disney is a company still notoriously cheap with his employees. Writer friends, I've had an LA always have hated pitching shows to Disney because they knew if they sold it to Disney, they weren't going to get paid what they would get paid at almost any other studio. Those characters at Disneyland, the ones wearing suits, hot suits, ones you have to, you just have to share underwear, you have to wave, be cheerful all fucking day around a shit storm of bratty kids either going into or crashing down from sugar highs. Those characters get paid an average of 13 bucks

an hour, a dollar more than California's minimum weight. Disney has built their empire, partly in awesome products, and innovation, and savvy marketing, also partly in keeping their payroll pretty low. And there's other conspiracy theories. Most of them are boring. Does Disney choose the colors the park has been painted to direct you where to look, to maximize how much shit you buy?

Yeah. They put a lot of thought in everything. That's the real magic Disneyland, attention to detail. Is there a no fly zone above Disneyland? Yes, but not to hide secrets, it's to add to the park experience. They bring in so much tax money for Southern California, they can demand a no fly zone above their theme park.

And again, it's just attention to detail. Attention to detail is many places would never even think about, and that's why they become the world's most recognizable, one of the world's most recognizable, one of the world's most recognizable and powerful brands. Let's talk about how big and powerful Disney is as a company to close things out. This stuff fascinates me.

Since it was founded in 1923, the Walt Disney Company has grown into a mega billion dollar company comprised of multiple other companies it's bought over the years. Hundreds of individual companies now are under the umbrella of the Walt Disney company. Few major companies Disney owns a large portion of our media giants like Hulu, Disney Plus, ABC. They own 80% of ESPN. They own touch-done pictures, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 50% of A&E. They own 50% of the history channel, 50% of lifetime Pixar, Hollywood records, 10% of vice media. Right? There's Disney television channels, Disney stores and malls across the world, Disney radio stations, Disney parks, Disney cruise line, vacation related properties.

The Disney theme park empire has 46 resort hotels and four countries with more than 140,000 cast members keeping the parks running. Walt Disney World in Orlando alone the largest single site employer in the United States with a $1.6 billion payroll. There are literally dozens of other miscellaneous property companies owned by Disney going back to the days when Walt had to hide his investments through other companies in order to buy land

for Walt Disney World. There's all the characters and brands that fall somewhere under the Disney business umbrella, Star Wars, the Muppets, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney princesses, the Chronicles of Narnia franchise, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Pixar films, which includes toy stories, incredible, some cars, the Winnie the Pooh franchise, Indiana Jones franchise, number of popular shows in ABC like Grey's Anatomy, Disney also bought 21st Century Fox for 71 billion in 2019. So now they own brands like The Simpsons, the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, Aliens,

Predator, Diehard, Avatar, Planet of the Apes, Home Alone, Kingsmen, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the X-Files, 24-The Family Guy, just to name a few. With so many recognizable characters, Disney makes a fuck ton of merchandisey money. In 2014, consumer products generated revenue and operating income of nearly four billion and 1.4 billion. There is a shit ton of Disney related crap and landfills all over earth. Disney's first film to exceed one billion

in global box office receipts was Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. Did that in 2006, since then, several Disney films have eclipsed the 10 figure mark, including 2010's Alice in Wonderland over a billion, Toy Story 3 over a billion, 2011's Pirates of the Caribbean, of Stranger Tides over a billion, 2012's Marvel's The Avengers over one and a half billion, 2013's Iron Man 3, 1.2 billion, Frozen 1.2 billion. Many of those billion plus films stemmed

from Disney's decisions to acquire Pixar for 7.4 billion in 2006, and Marvel for 4 billion in 2009. And those investments are paying off. Most recently things really took off with Avengers Endgame, which took in almost three fucking billion dollars in 2019. The highest grossing film of all time in the box office,

2.8 billion. Sixth to top 10 highest grossing films are movies owned by Disney. There are now 25 films Disney has made with over a billion dollars in box office revenue. That's insane. Overall, the companies were somewhere between 61 billion and a hundred and 31, and a hundred and 30 billion,

placing it seventh in the list of the 10 most valuable brands in the world according to Forbes in 2020. They find themselves behind the likes of Coca-Cola, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Apple in the head of everyone else in the world. And it all started with the drawings and visions of one man, Walt Disney. Yes many helped him along the way. People like, you know, older brother Roy, natural born killer Disney, boob eye twerk, but seriously a lot of talented people help Walt, but it was Walt's core ideas, his vision,

his demanding ways, his tenacity to not accept defeat, his passion, his drive that took what could have been a life of cranking out some pretty good cartoons, maybe one of a few words, maybe making a few good movies and enjoying a big home in Hollywood Hills. It could have been one of those guys could have stopped there, but he kept pushing and he built a company that could still yet become the most powerful corporation in the world. Disney still innovating, still pushing evolving long after Walt's death. Disney's new new live action adaptation of 1998's animated Mulan is going to debut on Disney Plus on September 4th.

And this is not a paid ad. Let me get out of here. I don't see Disney buying ads on this show. Unless fucking known from Disney ever hear about it, especially after the crazy shit I said about Roy this week. But Disney is releasing Mulan on Disney Plus for $2,999 on top of the $6,99 per month, Disney Plus fee. Since theaters are still closed down around the world,

Disney is gambling on home viewing to debut a film that costs roughly $200 million to make. And industry insiders are saying that if this gamble works, it's gonna change the film industry forever. It's gonna revolutionize things once again. It could spell doom for movie theaters. If big budget blockbusters can be profitable, via a home release, obviously theater chains like AMC and Riggle

gonna lose a lot of leverage. When it comes to making deals, the screen films in the future, and they're gonna lose a ton of income. Disney could put the nail in the coffin, the final nail for movie theaters. They could be a huge game changer again. And it all started again with the mouse. As the film producer, Walt Disney holds a record for most Academy Awards earned by an individual still, won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations, presented

with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award among many other honors. And all started with this, you know, drawn some shit on a train, Matt about getting screwed on a previous animation deal coming back to California from New York. What was by no means perfect, but what a life he led. He contributed a lot to the betterment of mankind. Some of my best family memories involved Disney. You think about how certain brands affect your life? I still remember Kyler Monroe watching little Einstein's on Playhouse Disney when they

were toddlers. After my divorce, when the kids were flying back and forth to see me in LA from Spokane, one of the first things I did was by annual Disneyland passes. As a day, and the days we went, despite the meltdowns, despite the long waits and lines, those trips to Anaheim were fucking magical. I wish I could step through some multiverse wall

and still be able to lift Kyler above my head or hold Monroe and walk around the park for hours on end. I wish I could step through some multiverse wall and still be able to lift Kaira above my head or hold Monroe and walk around the park for hours on end, which I could watch them light up when I got some toys on the way out. When things got serious with Lindsey, I went to Disneyland with her and the kids and we had someone take our pictures, we sat on a bench just outside the Matterhorn ride and it's one of my favorite pictures ever. Such a magical special moment trapped in time. Another one of my favorite pictures from the Tarzan tree house, Kyler missed him most of his front teeth.

Monroe's so in love with Lindsay. I came on the faces, big smiles on everyone's faces. Without Disneyland, without Walt, I don't have those memories. I don't get to remember carrying Kyler Monroe from my shitty beat up Alontera with the mangled front ride panel and a passenger window that didn't roll all the way back up

or down, got stuck all the time. I had back windows full of Disney stickers because I let the kids throw them all around that beater. I don't get to remember carrying those kids from the car, laying them down in their bunk beds out cold. They'd OD'd on fun and treats, crash as happy as the kid can crash. Kairler with the lightsaber in his hand, Monroe dressed up like Tinkerbell. So thank you Walt. It's your Disney Empire perfect today. Of course not. No company ever is, but thank you. Thanks for the memories. Thanks for not giving up when you had your Oswald lucky rabbit idea stolen from you. I love how much Mickey looks like Oswald, by the way.

Thanks for not giving up when a war on a strike left you millions of debts. Thanks for continuing to work long hours on the next feature film when the last few flopped. You may not have lived long enough to build a new kind of utopian city, but you did live long enough to create a lot more joy for the entire world. If the rest of us tried to follow your example, in that regard, how much more magic? How much, you know, can we put on the word? How much more magical could our world become? Something cool to think about. Something cool to strive for.

Time now for today's Top 5 takeaways. Time, shock, tough, right takeaways. Number one, Walt was a prolific entertainer. time. Shock. Top 5 Takeaway. Number 1. Walt was a prolific entertainer. Starting out as a son of a man who couldn't get any of his businesses to work, Walt created one of the biggest media empires on earth, from Disneyland to movies to theme parks, to a futuristic village that ended up being another theme park. Walt created it all, estimated that if he were alive today, his personal net worth will

be around 40 billion. Number two, wall did help make the red scared during the 50s worse by being a stride and anti-communists and FBI informant and buddies with several key law enforcement officers. Some people will see this as a stain on his life record, but fuck communism. Well, jangles loves wall Disney more because of this than anything else. Number three, wall critics called his first full-length cartoon, Disney's Folly, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would reinvent the film industry, eventually tackle, you know, and eventually, you know, become one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

And the first animated feature film to be a giant theatrical hit. Walt put his future on the line borrowing most of the 1.5 million that he used to make the film and it paid off. Snow White grossed over $66 million, over a billion in today's money during this 1937 theatrical run before reaching $185 million with the help of re-relases over the following decades, still the 10th highest grossing film of all time.

Number four, the company Walt would create with his brother in 1923 would eventually go on to be one of the top 10 most valuable companies on Earth. And number five, new info was Walt Disney, a naughty boy sneak in sexual imagery into his family friendly cartoons. Let's talk about a few more rumors. A lot of rumors in this vein, but since Walt himself is a pretty conservative guy, most of it doesn't check out. But there have been quite a few naughty images found, or at least claimed to be found in

Disney Pictures over the years. Let's throw our minds in the gutter. It's a spin reality for a minute. You may have heard of the scene in the animated Lion King where as he lays down with a thud, a Simba kicks up a cloud of dust which appears to spell out sex. It's there, but was it intentional?

Yes, but asterisk. One of the film's animators, Tom Siddho, has confirmed that yes, there was a word intentionally spelled it in the dust, but not sex. It's SFX, an in joke for the film's art and special effects department, the SFX department. So not as dirty as you might think. Also, it's seen a little mermaid

where one of the characters gets a boner or appears to. Happens when the bishop stands before the soon-to-be betrothed and says, dear, but lavid, and then his growing region appears to bulge and inflate. Again, Tom Siddoh has an explanation. Siddoh says the bulge is actually one of the bishop's knees, but this didn't stop one viewer for attempting to sue Disney over the image not being suitable for use and viewing by young children. I got it, trying

to sue for the fuck whoever did that. Oh my heck! What would happen to my children? If they see a close boner, what can a close boner do for the children? Disney was actually forced to remove the offending erection from the film Unreal. Another one is in the Little Mermaid poster art. The art depicts the main characters against the backdrop of Atlantica, where a few of the castle spires look a lot like a couple of dicks. Was this an innocent accident? Not according to a long standing rumor,

which is suggested that a ticked off Disney animator inserted penises after being sacked. And it turned out to be a rumor. Not only was the poster artist not fired, due to claiming this was never even employed by Disney. The artist's question is since admitted that the artwork was the result of him rushing to complete it over an all night design session, meaning any penises in the poster are 40 and slips at best.

And I love this next one, which includes Jessica Rabbit. It's so hot. Since the release of Hugh Frame Roger Rabbit 1988, poster are 40 and slips at best. And I love this next one, which includes Jessica Rabbit. It's so hot. Since the release of Who Framed Roger Rabbit 1988, Jessica Rabbit has become one of the most iconic symbols of female sexuality in real life and in the world of animation. And at one point in the film, Jessica crashes out of the cab. She's been riding with Eddie Valiant

as she's thrown from the car, Jessica's legs open. It's a basic instinct moment in a film full of risque humor, a typical even for those filth merchants. Filth merchants, excuse me, I hope it's a Disney animation house. There are literally dozens of little things in so many Disney movies that people with their minds and the gutters have found that they thought were sexual

but they've pretty much all been explained the way it's being pretty innocent. Even in that top moment, you don't actually see anything with Jessica. Except for that one Sharon Disney por, oh, the happiest post on Earth, everything else has been, you know, pretty, pretty innocent. Did you know that Roy Disney produced that movie? JK, I'm done now.

Time suck, tough, five take away. Disney has been sucked. Hope you like it. Apologies. It's a Roy Disney relatives after Walt's death in 1996. Roy did postpone his retirement to oversee construction of what was then known as Disney World. He renamed it Walt Disney World as a tribute to his brother. And apparently he's a good dude. I hope you had fun with this subject really unlike any other subject we've had so far. I had fun with it. Nice change of pace. Thank you to the Bad Magic Productions team for all the help and making time suck. Queen of Bad Magic, Lindsey

Cummins, Reverend Dr. Jill Paisley, Scripps Keeper, Zach Flannery, Biddelixer, Art Warlock, Logan. That's the Bad Magic Baroness, Kate Keith, running Bad Magic Merch dot com and the socials. And Sophie Evans, thanks for, she is now a full-time contributor. She's helped off and on for quite a while. Thanks Sophie, thanks to all of you who joined the Colt the Curious private Facebook group over 20,000 members who continue to make time sick more than a podcast. Hail Nimrod to all of you. Thank you, Liz Hernandez, and they all see and eyes running the Colt the Curious Facebook

page. Thanks to the wonderful weirdos having fun on Discord. Congrats to Hunter Covington, aka KMO boy 78 for winning round one of the trivia and getting some sweet prizes mailed his way, including a cowboy pigeon trophy. Lil was no post cat. Lil cowboy pigeon trophy space lizard. You get that. I crushed it with 5,863 total points over four weeks worth of trivia.

Round two has already started. Good luck to all of you playing. Next week on time. So we examine what many claim to be the strangest place on earth, Skinwalker Ranch. That's right. We're going to get cryptid, we're going to get UFO-E, and get monster-y. This suck will focus on an orgy of X-Files oddities that allegedly occurred over the course of 50 years on a 512 acre ranch in the middle of rural Utah, interesting parallel, almost the exact same size as a Disneyland resort, ex files owned by Disney, Is Disney behind, is fucking really behind this? The story somehow has all of the following extraterrestrials, poltergeists, werewolves, evil witches, UFO, sass watches, dinosaur ghosts,

a billionaire rocket scientist, and of course skinwalkers. You'll have to join us next week to see if I made any of that up. Hint, I didn't. You'll have to join us next week to see if I made any of that up. Hint, I didn't. A joint, just to UFO aspects, this topic include all the major levels of uphology, from crop circles, to cattle mutilations, to abduction stories and more. There are so many reports of lights in the sky that the area is often referred to as UFO alley. A local filmmaker once told a Utah news reporter that you can't throw a rock into the Utah

without hitting somebody who's been abducted. Precised to the type of story we'd like to suck on. This topic raises so many questions. Is the land cursed? Is it a portal to another dimension? Does Bigfoot travel into space with werewolves? Most importantly, can crystals protect us from aforementioned space werewolves? Maybe, nah, pray not. We'll try and find answers to these questions plus detailed and many paranormal claims of Skinwalker Ranch next week on TimeSucker. And right now, let's head on over

to this week's TimeSucker updates. Updates? Get your time sucker updates. Sweet Space Lizard Larry Sharp has an acronym correction for me. It's a lesson I think I learned in a previous update and then clearly forgot, because I need to learn it again. Larry writes Dan Reverend COVID Reverend COVID. That's pretty good. And fucking new guy. When listen to all things FBI this

past week, Dan mentioned about a thousand times that the number of acronyms in the government are ridiculous. Not true. What Dan doesn't know is that the FBI and the BAU and the BSU are not acronyms. Webster says acronym, a word such as NATO, radar, or laser, form from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term. Note that doesn't mean that all words formed by initials like FBI are not acronyms. The resulting word created by the initials has to be said as a word like NATO, not as individual letters like FBI. I found this out on one of my favorite shows since I'm innately cynical, pen and tellers bullshit, and in their episode called the right not to be offended

censored, they point out this in their own classically a Serbic way. When you say FBI, what you got there is in initialism. Yeah, yeah, praise Nimrod and keep on pink sock and space is a Larry Sharp God Larry. Thank you. Thank you for the pink sock reference. I forgot about that. Not happy to remember it. Yes, initialism, DVD ATM BRB FBI different than acronym is like ASAP AWOL IMAX said his words not as individual letters. Appreciate the reminder, he'll number out to you.

Top shelf sack Shelby caught another BSU blunder. She writes greetings to the salutations, suck master supreme. I was just listening to the BSU suck and had to rewind once or twice. You see I'm in the air force and my husband is in the army. We have a long standing joke going where people always refer to the military as a whole as the army.

Many people from back home ask me how the army is on a pretty regular basis. I don't really mind. I don't often correct them, but the army in the Air Force truly couldn't be more different. Dan, I thought you were special. I thought you understood yet in the episode you said John Douglas would also join the army spending four years in the Air Force. Why, Dan? In all honesty, my husband and I got a good laugh out of it and no actual offense was taken. I just felt the need to call you out for it. In the event that you read this on the show, can you give a shout out to my husband Tyler? Can't wait to see live whenever the San Antonio show ends up being time-sucker and U.S.

Airman not soldier Shelby. Shelby, forgive me. Yes, shout out to Tyler. Thank you both for your service. I blame, you know who I blame. If I'm not gonna blame myself, I'm gonna blame my daughter Monroe for that mistake. Hear me out. I ran home for lunch before recording that episode and I'm not gonna blame myself, I'm gonna blame my daughter Monroe, but that mistake, hear me out. I ran home for lunch before recording that episode,

and I was gonna eat something reasonable, but she had the balls to make sweet ass chocolate waffles, giant ones, and she offered me one. And yeah, sure, I could've said no, but come on, it's a chocolate waffle. Chocolate chips in there. So I ate it, and then I fought a food coma for the entire recording.

Damn you, chocolate waffle! And of course, I don't blame the Walfourman row. I should have caught that. Yeah, thanks for the reminder, Shelby. Now a super cool FBI BSU update coming in from an anonymous sucker who writes, insert Whitty greeting here. Super anonymous update here,

this email will explode after reading. Nice. Spaces are creeper and proud spouse to an FBI special agent and training here, just finished the BSU suck and wanted to give you my limited insight into the special agent process. And first, wanted to say that the FBI is very clear during the long

application process that the job is not like what you see on TV. And if you think that, you probably should not apply. The application process to become a special agent is very lengthy and rigorous took my husband and one and a half years from application to class eight. Also a profiler is not an official job title, but rather a task performed by this department. Below is listed in the FAQ section on the special agent job information,

which I find hilarious that they needed to clarify. And it says, the FBI does not have a job called profiler. Supervisory special agents assigned to the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, NCAC at Quantico, Virginia performed the task commonly associated with profiling. Despite some popular depictions, these FBI Special Agents do not get vibes or experience psychic flashes while walking around fresh crime scenes. In reality, it is an exciting world of investigation and research, a world of inductive and deductive reasoning, crime solving experience, and knowledge of investigation and research, a world of inductive and deductive reasoning,

crime solving experience, and knowledge of criminal behavior, facts, and statistical probabilities. On the chance this gets read in the suck, I was wondering if you could give a shout out to my amazing husband who is going through the academy in such a weird time, may not be able to see any friends or family

until he graduates. I'm so proud for you following your dreams, hanging there and keep on sucking, not sorry for the email length. That's become a thing now. It reminds me of, I wanna say too, also, I gotta say, I love all the three out of five references and reviews just across anything I've done online now.

It feels like the bulk the last few months of every review is love it wouldn't change a thing with three out of five stars. It does crack me up. And then for obvious reasons, no name. Well, congrats anonymous husband of anonymous sucker. You're almost there. You're almost cleary stalling. Soon you'll be going head to head in a battle of wits against Hannibal Lecter. Soon you'll be trying to track down Roy Destiny. No, seriously though. Good for you.

Over the Sunday, I'm referencing you helping catch some serial killer. And thanks to you FBI dudes partner for the extra info. I was awesome. Now Meet's Zach Supreme, Zach Raymond gets Cummins Lod. Love these. Last so hard when I read this the first time. Zach writes, dear suck master, mush mouth. You finally got me, you rat bastard.

Today I was listening to the BSU suck and my work truck while I was eating lunch. The main is guy for the property I'm working at came up to the truck to ask you questions. So I paused the suck, rolled my windows down, chatted for a few minutes, he leaves, I hit play, continue eating my lunch. About five minutes in you start singing your Albert Fish song. You know the one. Well you know it's the best win the poop pits yet just that's how I come. I shoot my seed when your ass starts to bleed. That's how I come. As you hit that triumphant

final, that's how I come. And I'm laughing my ass off out of the corner of my eye. I see a car with three grandmas in it. About to go eat lunch. Just staring at me with her mouths wide open. That's right. My dumbass forgot to roll my damn window back up. Horrified. I just turned the volume down, rolled my window up and casually looked the other direction. I can only imagine the lunch conversation those poor ladies had. Hope to just put a smile under your mustache. Keep on sucking. Good sir. Your faithful meat sack. Zach, Zach, I love it. And what if think about this? What if when you left, right? One of those ladies said, I'm weird. That's how I come to. And then they had a good ol' peanut butter and hot apple side of holdout. Seriously though, thanks for sharing. Keep on sucking. Love these type of messias. Now for

an important reminder from spaces or Matt Pittman, not to take your friends or your life for granted. Enjoy the days you've got suckers, Matt writes, dear suck master, spaces are Matt here. Today started out shitty. I left work early to go to urgent care because I felt strepthrode coming on. As I'm sitting wait for my name to get called, my phone rings, it's my friend, what happened to work with. Just as I'm feeling terrible thinking about how much my life sucks, she tells me that our co-worker, another one of my good friends, got on an accident last night and passed away.

I've been in a haze ever since. I had just talked to her the day before about how much she was working. She was volunteering for overtime and weekend shifts on top of running her own house, keeping businesses, keeping business on the side. I asked her why she put herself to the ringer like that. Why doesn't she take some time to relax? And she said it was so she would have something

to leave behind for her son. She came to the United States 10 years ago from Puerto Rico, had worked non-stop since she got here to make a better life for her family. I came to the United States 10 years ago from Puerto Rico, had worked non-stop, since she got here to make a better life for her family. I say all of this to remind myself, and all the other time suckers out there to be thankful for the people you love, and care about around you, because you never know when you'll talk to them for the last time. I just wanted to get this off my chest, hopefully show people what's really important in life, hail Nimrod, hail Nimrod to you Matt, sorry about your friend.

Thank you for that very important reminder. Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. So carpet DM while you can, surround yourself with people you enjoy and love as often as you can. Now last up, then with a little more comedy. Polish Monster Doug Lewandowski has somehow emailed in a message clearly a non Polish person helping write it since we know that polls have not evolved far enough to learn how to type. They don't have fine motor skills, they can smash keys,

but they can't hit them gently one at a time. Anyway, Doug has some fun to share with us. He writes, Sir Sucks a lot, my wife saw, and I saw you in Sacramento before the world ended, and you were amazing. Thank you. I am the one who gave you my squadron's coin after the show. Yes, thank you. That leads me to my next point, you son of a bitch. coin after the show. Yes, thank you. That leads me to my next point, you son of a bitch. All that Yoko Ono music cons me from my time at survival evasion resistance and escape school. I fly for the Air Force and in the prison camp phase of our training at the school, they will play Yoko Ono's terrible shit for hours on repeat. It wears on you,

it aids in sleep deprivation. I just want to say thanks for making me flash back to wanting to smash my head into my cell door while I was driving to work today. However, I forgive you because everything in touch is awesome. Obligatory sorry for the long email from Mark, keep on sucking, your little spaces are dug. Doug, thank you for that message. I assume you're being serious and I find that fucking hilarious that they play Yoko Ono to literally torture people with.

I believe it. Her vocal solos, they sound like cats being beaten to death with other cats. Thanks for your service. Sorry about your last name. And keep on sucking. And thanks everyone for the updates. Thanks, time suckers.

I need a net. We all did. Thanks for listening to another suck. And thanks for the ratings and reviews everyone. Much appreciated. You keep time suck up in various charts. it. Ha, and keep on sucking. Ho-ho, boy! Oh, sir. Elias is real sadness towards the end of his life. Course came from out living his wife and living with the knowledge that she was murdered by a son Roy. And of course, Disney legal team, if you're listening, JK.

JK as fuck.